One Hundred Years Ago

[K_Dubb]

From the Seattle Star today, the paper boys get a night out:



The Alhambra:



I assume this is for the protection of Portland's shrinking violets:



A new place for our chop suey!



The Smith Tower, built in 1914, features a room at the top, just under the pyramid, decorated in the Chinese taste:



Now -- you can see the great view of Elliott Bay out the window:



and, at one time, its own restaurant in rustic style:



Finally, more clues to the sounds of 1916, though damn-near unlistenable:



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOccNetZJWI

A great picture of the Strand in the '20s:



"Wet Gold" was an early effort at underwater camera work.

[Rix Gins]

Another autograph dated today from Tiny Burnett's collection.   

These Tiny items are great, K.  I looked the man up, for no other reason than to see if he was a giant of a man who people were jokingly calling 'Tiny.'  Glad to see that they were calling him that because he was a small guy.  Have you got any photos of Tiny in his old age?  And was Tiny married, say like during the late sixties?  It's a long shot, but the answer you might have, could possibly engender a loud noise that everyone on this thread would easily hear.  That of my bottom jaw hitting the top of my computer desk. 

[K_Dubb]

These Tiny items are great, K.  I looked the man up, for no other reason than to see if he was a giant of a man who people were jokingly calling 'Tiny.'  Glad to see that they were calling him that because he was a small guy.  Have you got any photos of Tiny in his old age?  And was Tiny married, say like during the late sixties?  It's a long shot, but the answer you might have, could possibly engender a loud noise that everyone on this thread would easily hear.  That of my bottom jaw hitting the top of my computer desk.

Here he is in front of a later Orpheum in 1967, now also sadly gone:



Haven't found any mention of marriages, yet.

[Rix Gins]

Here he is in front of a later Orpheum in 1967, now also sadly gone:



Haven't found any mention of marriages, yet.

Haha, that's a great photo K. and thanks.  The reason I chuckled is because obviously, the shorter guy has to be Tiny, right?  Oddly enough, the fellow I was thinking of looks more like the taller guy on the left, only he should be shorter.  Oh well, thought we had something there for a moment.

[K_Dubb]

Haha, that's a great photo K. and thanks.  The reason I chuckled is because obviously, the shorter guy has to be Tiny, right?  Oddly enough, the fellow I was thinking of looks more like the taller guy on the left, only he should be shorter.  Oh well, thought we had something there for a moment.

Yeah, the caption didn't indicate but I think we're supposed to draw our own conclusions.

Imagine having a portrait of yourself by Edward S. Curtis!  He really must have been somebody.

[Rix Gins]

Everett True, March 4, 1916.

[Rix Gins]

The Day Book, March 4, 1916.

[K_Dubb]

The Day Book, March 4, 1916.

Ha ha ha the poor Miss Case!  And great to see a flat-earther way back then, too.

[Rix Gins]

The Daily Bonanza, March 4, 1916.

[K_Dubb]

The Daily Bonanza, March 4, 1916.

Wow!  The account of the Leap Year Ball is a model of everything I love about these old articles.  Those boys knew how to write.

[Rix Gins]

Wow!  The account of the Leap Year Ball is a model of everything I love about these old articles.  Those boys knew how to write.

I agree K, they did indeed know how to write.  I don't post them very often but obituaries were also nicely written.  Full of descriptive phrases of sorrow and usually they offered a fair accounting of what the person did during life.  That editorial about the seeds...I wonder why the government had the responsibility of sending them out?  I also noticed that Everett himself made reference to that when he was clobbering a politician in one of his earlier appearances on this thread.

[K_Dubb]

I agree K, they did indeed know how to write.  I don't post them very often but obituaries were also nicely written.  Full of descriptive phrases of sorrow and usually they offered a fair accounting of what the person did during life.  That editorial about the seeds...I wonder why the government had the responsibility of sending them out?  I also noticed that Everett himself made reference to that when he was clobbering a politician in one of his earlier appearances on this thread.

Apparently the practice goes way back.  This gives a pretty good overview:

https://seedstory.wordpress.com/a-brief-history-of-the-seed-industry/

The reason cited is

The government’s objectives in funding such a massive movement of seed stemmed from the recognition that feeding an expanding continent would require a diversification of foods.

A way of managing agriculture on a national scale, I guess.

[Rix Gins]

Well thanks, K.  That certainly answered my question.     

[Walks_At_Night]

Wow!  The account of the Leap Year Ball is a model of everything I love about these old articles.  Those boys knew how to write.

It's something else again, isn't it?     Now we have Yahoo News talking about Kimmy K's latest selfie in a thong     

[Walks_At_Night]

On March 4th, 1916 the Battlecruiser HMS Renown was launched.   The British taxpayers got their money's worth when she was built as she would see action against the Kaiserliche Marine, Kriegsmarine, Regia Marina and the Imperial Japanese Navy spanning two world wars.  She was the lead ship of her class and her construction was ordered halted and then resumed as  a rush job by First Sea Lord Jack Fisher.   Her designer had one cool ass handle - 1st Baronet, Sir Eustace Henry William Tennyson d'Eyncourt and with a max speed of almost 31 knots she was the fastest capital ship in the world upon her commissioning.   

During the Norwegian campaign in WWII she would take on both the Scharnhorst and the Gneisenau on April 9th, 1940.  She would almost immediately take two 11" shell hits but then landed a 15" hit of her own on the  Gneisenau - knocking out the fire control director and forcing the Germans to break contact.   Later she would tangle with the Italians at the Battle of Cape Spartivento and would finish her career in the far east bombarding the  Andaman and Nicobar Islands.  She would be scrapped in 1948.

HMS Renown

[Walks_At_Night]

In Part III of the Ford's we look at the "forgotten Ford" - Edsel Ford.  Sadly if anyone remembers him at all it is in conjunction with
the failed line of cars named after him.

Edsel Ford was the only child of Henry and Clara Ford and while he would grow up in the auto business and be President of
the Ford Motor Company for 24 years not really much has been written about him.   His iconic Father would both out live and
over shadow him.  He was named after Edsel Ruddiman who was Henry's best friend as a child.   Edsel would grow up working
on cars and unlike his Dad he was not consumed with driving the cost out of assembly as he had a very good eye for design.
So good in fact, that with out him the world may missed out on the '32 Ford Coupe and the Beach Boys would not have
been able to sing about the Little Deuce Coupe. 

From childhood Edsel was groomed to take over the Ford Motor Company from his father.  In 1915, at the tender age of 22 he was
named secretary of the Ford Motor Company.  The next year he would marry his wife Elanor [she was from the JL Hudson family
of Department Store fame].  In 1919 at the ripe age of 26, he was named President of the Ford Motor Company and the "war"
with his Dad would begin.  While the two would remain close personally, Edsel had his hands full with Henry as the old man
would constantly over rule Edsel's decisions and not listen to Edsel's sound advice.    The Ford Motor Company lost a great
deal of market share to GM and Chrysler and the blame was squarely on Henry's shoulders.  If it was up to Henry they probably
would still be building Model T's in Dearborn to this day.  Henry was in love with the Model T and was obsessed with its
simplicity and ease of assembly.  However, after WWI the United States was in the midst of the Roaring Twenties and consumers
were looking for vehicles with styling and of course wanted things like hydraulic brakes.  The brake issue would be a
major stink inside the Ford Motor Company - Henry insisted that only mechanical brakes would be used.   In the 1920's
companies like Stutz and Hupp would be using hydraulic brakes and even more pedestrian vehicles like Chevy's and Dodge's
had them by 1931.   Henry Ford would finally relent in 1939 when Ford's finally incorporated this feature. 

At times Henry and Edsel could compromise - when Henry finally accepted the reality that the Model T could not be built
forever they split the work on the Model A.   Henry did the mechanicals and Edsel did the styling -  it was a success
over it's four year run over 4 million Model A's would be built.   In a separate initiative to gain lost market share, Edsel
would convince Henry tp acquire the Lincoln Motor Company and head up market.   This was a success and some auto buffs
consider the '39 Lincoln Continental to be among the best looking cars ever - Frank Lloyd Wright called it the
“the most beautiful car ever made”.     Despite these successes, Edsel had his hands full with both his Father and
the delinquent whom had his Dad's ear - Harry Bennett. 

By all accounts Edsel was a very nice man - he was a loving husband and father. He and Elanor would have four children:
Henry II, Benson, Josephine and William [yes that William - Bill Ford long time owner of the Detroit Lions whom died
in 2014].   The would originally live at 2171 Iroquois Street in the Indian Village neighborhood in Detroit - a quick
peek at Google Maps show that this home is still in good shape today.  By 1929 they would move to a new home along
the shore of Lake St. Clair in Grosse Pointe - this house is open to the public for tours and is worth a visit
if you happen to be in the area. 

Edsel Ford was great benefactor of different things - he would finance Admiral Byrd's explorations.  Both the flight over the
North Pole (in a Ford Tri-Motor of course) and Byrd's Antarctic expeditions.   The Ford Mountain Ranges in Antarctica are named
after Edsel Ford. Edsel and Elanor would be big donors to the Detroit Institute of Arts and in 1936 they would help setup
The Ford Foundation which has the stated mission of advancing human welfare.   It has had its critics but with an
endowment of over 12 billion dollars it has the capacity to do a great deal of good. 

The pressure on Edsel would increase greatly with the outbreak of WWII.   As we learned in the post on the Ford Motor Company,
they would be heavily involved in being the Arsenal of Democracy.  Tasked with helping Consolidated build B-24 heavy bombers,
Ford had all kinds of startup issues in building the plane at the Willow Run plant.  Edsel set the goal of building one
bomber per hour and this would eventually be reached.   However the strain of war production, dealing with an increasingly
erratic, elderly Father who countermanded his decisions and dealing with Harry Bennett was too much.   Edsel would fall ill
and he would die in 1943 of metastatic stomach cancer - he was only 49. 

His death would result in a power struggle within the Ford Motor Company - a struggle that would lead FDR to thinking
about nationalizing the company.   We'll cover that and more in Part IV of the Ford's


Henry and young Edsel:


Henry and Edsel roll out the Model A


Edsel, Elanor and their four children


The Children - Henry II, Benson, Josephine and William


The Edsel Ford House


A 1928 Model A


A Rodder's Wet dream - A Deuce Coupe  [1932 Ford]


One of the Mountains in the Ford Range in Antarctica


BTW - Edsel's personal, custom built '32 Speedster is coming up for auction on March 12th.   For a cool $1.5 million
this piece of auto history can be yours!!!!!!!!
http://www.rmsothebys.com/am16/amelia-island/lots/1932-ford-model-18-edsel-ford-speedster/1078625


[Note:]
Part I of this series is here: http://bellgab.com/index.php/topic,9331.msg730248.html#msg730248
Part II of this series is here: http://bellgab.com/index.php/topic,9331.msg733430.html#msg733430

[Rix Gins]

Yet more fascinating info and pics about the Fords...thanks so much Walks.  Edsel was quite a fellow and it's a crying shame that he passed away at such an early age.  Really looking forward to part four.

[Walks_At_Night]

Yet more fascinating info and pics about the Fords...thanks so much Walks.  Edsel was quite a fellow and it's a crying shame that he passed away at such an early age.  Really looking forward to part four.

You'll have to forgive me for the final two parts - they are far removed from 1916 but there is definitely some interesting stuff there.   So I hope you'll excuse the short little diversion.   Edsel certainly was alive and kicking in 1916 but obviously that won't be the case for his heirs!

Growing up in the D, I knew alot about the Ford's already but I've learned new stuff myself while working on this.  While I knew the Ford's fronted Admiral Byrd some I had never heard about the Ford Mountain ranges in Antarctica. 

BTW - I've never complimented you on your avatar but it's one my favorites on the board!

[K_Dubb]

From today's Rogue River Courier:





Funny as the image is, British abuses of American neutrality are a minor theme in war coverage in this period, with occasional references to the War of 1812.  Here, it produced results.  From Wikipedia:

During the autumn of 1914, while attached to the German Embassy in Washington D.C., Papen's "natural proclivities for intrigue got him involved in espionage activities." As a result, some sixteen months into the European War he was expelled from the United States for alleged complicity in the planning of acts of sabotage, such as the Vanceboro international bridge bombing to destroy US rail lines. On 28 December 1915, he was declared persona non grata after his exposure and was recalled to Germany. Setting out on the journey, his luggage was confiscated, and 126 cheque stubs were found showing payments to his agents. Papen went on to report on American attitudes, both to General Erich von Falkenhayn and to Wilhelm II, the German Emperor.

In April 1916, a United States federal grand jury issued an indictment against Papen for a plot to blow up Canada's Welland Canal, which connects Lake Ontario to Lake Erie, but Papen was by then safely home; he remained under indictment until he became Chancellor of Germany, at which time the charges were dropped

[K_Dubb]

In Part III of the Ford's we look at the "forgotten Ford" - Edsel Ford.

Thanks!  We should also ogle the '39 Lincoln Continental.  It is a thing of beauty.

[K_Dubb]

From Le Petit Journal today, an image of German prisoners.  I was confused by the term "Boche" when I was little and read it in books.

[Rix Gins]

Ha, so true K.  I always liked how the American soldiers referred to the Germans as 'The Dutch.'  Never did figure that one out. 

[Rix Gins]

You'll have to forgive me for the final two parts - they are far removed from 1916 but there is definitely some interesting stuff there.   So I hope you'll excuse the short little diversion.   Edsel certainly was alive and kicking in 1916 but obviously that won't be the case for his heirs!

Growing up in the D, I knew alot about the Ford's already but I've learned new stuff myself while working on this.  While I knew the Ford's fronted Admiral Byrd some I had never heard about the Ford Mountain ranges in Antarctica. 

BTW - I've never complimented you on your avatar but it's one my favorites on the board!

I love your Ford posts, Walks and it really doesn't matter if some of them don't line up with the 100 year theme.  Einstein himself said that time is relative, right?  Well if that was good enough for Einstein, its good enough for me.  lol  Please continue with the Ford saga, I know that all of us on the thread want to see how things turn out for them. 

Re: Your compliment about my avatar...I thank you and the late, great Charles McGraw thanks you.  That's him in one of my fave film noir movies, 1950's Armored Car Robbery.
http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0042206/
He's chasing four men who have just robbed an armored car, the ringleader of which is none other than Mr. Hamilton Burger (Perry Mason's adversary) himself. (William Talman.)  That's a bullet hole on the windshield...I was a little worried that people would think that it was bird doo doo. 

[Rix Gins]

From the March 5, 1916 Bisbee Daily Review.  (Villa is up to no good again.)


           (Photo frpm Wikimedia.)

[K_Dubb]

Today was Vendée Day.  The random colored letters are interesting.



For the benefit of the wartime projects of the Departmental Committee for the relief of wounded soldiers and prisoners of war from the Vendée.

[K_Dubb]

From the March 5, 1916 Bisbee Daily Review.  (Villa is up to no good again.)


           (Photo frpm Wikimedia.)

On the same front, a young Second Lieutenant George S. Patton bought a revolver today:

While on a scouting mission to buy corn for hungry troopers and horses, Patton bumped into one Captain Julio Crdenas, Villa's second in command at the San Miguelito Ranchero.

The resulting gunfight left Crdenas and the two bandits with him dead at the hands of Patton and his men. In the gunfight, instead of using a military-issued firearm, Patton went into combat with his Colt and personally engaged targets. Afterward, the good lieutenant Patton tied the dead bandit to the hood of his Dodge and carried him back to Pershing, earning the nickname, 'Bandito' in the process.

The Colt has a notch that Patton personally carved into the ivory grip in remembrance of this battle.

He is to the far left over Gen. Pershing's shoulder in this photo taken with Villa the previous year:



http://www.firearmstalk.com/Pattons-Colt-45-Single-Action-Army.html

[GravitySucks]

On the same front, a young Second Lieutenant George S. Patton bought a revolver today:



He is to the far left right over Gen. Pershing's shoulder in this photo taken with Villa the previous year:



http://www.firearmstalk.com/Pattons-Colt-45-Single-Action-Army.html

FIFY

[K_Dubb]

FIFY

Haha thanks, I do that all the time!

[Rix Gins]

Great info on Patton's revolver, K.  And what a coincidence, date wise.  If we can keep this thread going for a year or so we will be covering Patton's tank corps.  Fascinating stuff there.  Here is a preview...a photo of Patton. 


                           Photo by Wikimedia.

[K_Dubb]

From today's Seattle Star:



The Thomas L. Wand:



The S. S. Admiral Dewey:



The Cape Flattery lighthouse on Tatoosh Island still looks much as it did back then:



The Thomas L. Wand was finally wrecked off Point Sur in 1933.