A colorful past, pt. 2

Earlier this week, we pointed you toward some amazing color footage of London from the 1920s.

Today, we follow that up by tipping you off to the website How to Be a Retronaut, which is currently featuring four gorgeous color photos of London, taken around 1949. They’re remarkable pictures, and we’re grateful to H2BAR for sharing them with the world.

Pitch perfect

Film archivist Rick Prelinger once said, in a 2002 SF Weekly profile:

“I’m fascinated with the look of the past. I have an urgent need to form images of what a place looked like in the ’40s or ’50s. What did it smell like? What were people wearing? What [was] people’s body language? Was it noisy or quiet? Was the air smoky?”

To which we can only offer a hearty amen. We are constantly on the lookout for books, movies, and songs that give us a new angle on understanding life as it was once lived.

We recently bought a book from 1949 called American Slogans, and in this case, it turned out you can tell a book by its cover, because that’s just what this tome contains: a collection of thousands of slogans from companies in every area of commercial endeavor. No commentary, no analysis (other than a brief foreword) — just 318 pages of commercial slogans of the day (with up to 55 slogans per page).

Today, I’m sharing with the Cladrite Radio Clan a list of slogans that were used by clothing manufacturers back in the day:

Always good (Aetna Garment Co.).
Always ready, always dry (Alligator raincoats).
America’s finest fitting outercoats (Barron-Anderson Co.). Boston.
America’s first name in formal wear (Rudofker’s Sons).
America’s foremost fashion creator (Milgrim). New York.
America’s only known-priced clothes (Styleplus). Henry Sonneborn & Co.
America’s smartest buy (TruVal Shirts).
An investment in good appearance (Kuppenheimer clothes).
Anti-freeze underwear for men and boys, The (Hanes).
Aristocrat of shirtings, The (Sea Island Mills). New York.
Aristocrat of summer suits (Priestley’s Nor-East).
As western as the setting sun (Frontex shirts).

Balanced tailoring (Timely Clothes, Inc.) Rochester, N.Y.
Balanced tailoring makes Timely Clothes look better — longer.
Bath Towel you can wear (Toga Towel Co.). New York.
Bear for wear, A (Daniel Wagner & Sons, Inc.). Louisville, Ky.
Because, it’s sure to rain (Alligator raincoat).
Belcraft Shirts, your bosom friend (Belcraft Shirt Co.). New York.
Berkley Ties the world (Berkley Knitting Co.). Philadelphia.
Be Scotch, get your money’s worth (Sportswear). Doniger & Co., New York.
Best buy, wet or dry (Plymouth weatherproofs).
Best by TEST from coast to coast (Test overalls, work pants).
Best for fifty years (F.C. Taylor Fur Co.). St. Louis, Mo.
Bigger than weather (Patrick-Duluth Woolen Mills).
Big name in clothes, The (Styleplus Clothes). Henry Sonneborn Co.
Boy’s suit built for wear, The (J.J. Preis & Co.). New York.
Brilliant as the sun (Lustray Shirts). Lustberg-Nast Co., New York.
Buy overalls from the inside out (Crown & Headlight).
By this sign you shall know them (Currick, Leiken & Bandler).

Read more

A glimpse of a colorful past

Anyone under the age of seventy could be forgiven for forgetting that the world didn’t suddenly spring to colorful life in the past half-century, so predominant was the grey palette of black and white photography and cinematography in the first half of the 21 century.

But of course, the world never existed in black and white — it was just depicted that way.

One aspect of Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator that I especially admired was the way the look of the picture slowly morphed, depending on the period being depicted. In scenes that took place in the late twenties and early thirties, the heavily green and orange look of the two-strip Technicolor of the era was very effectively replicated. I’ll admit to a fondness for that look, and when I do imagine life in the 1930s in color, that’s the palette my mind’s eye adopts.

Ms. Cladrite and I spent our honeymoon in the great city of London a little more than a year back. It was her second trip there, and my first, and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. We often reminisce fondly about those eight delightful days. So it was with some excitement that I learned of this color footage of London in the 1920s, and it’s with great pleasure that I share it with you, the Cladrite Radio listener.