1914

Articles from 1914

In Praise of Slapstick Comedy (Photoplay Magazine, 1914)

A reporter from Photoplay Magazine let all her eager readers in on the excitement from the glamorous set of the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company (Illinois) where the comedy, Actor Finney’s Finnish (1914) was being shot.
The silent short was directed and performed by those who would be participating steadily during Hollywood’s next thirty year spree: E. Mason Hopper (1885 – 1967), Director; Wallace Beery (1885 – 1949), leading man; Eddie Redway (1869 – 1919), co-star; Leo White (1882 – 1948), co-star; Bobbie Bolder (1859-1937) co-star, Ruth Hennesy (no dates), actress.

In Praise of Slapstick Comedy (Photoplay Magazine, 1914) Read More »

Was Jesus Black? (The Crises, 1914)

Chances are pretty slim that Jesus of Nazareth was a button-nose blondy – so pink of cheek, with eyes of blue – yet, time and again, this was the manner in which he was rendered by the Christians of the Gilded Age. When the African-American magazine The Crises began to run illustrated advertisements depicting Christ as anything but a white fellow you better believe there were some letters addressed to their editors on the issue. The attached article was their response to these outraged readers.

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Mocking Ad Practices in the Early 20th Century (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1914)

In the attached Vanity Fair article, James Montgomery Flagg (1877 – 1960) had a good laugh at the hand that fed him: the New York advertising establishment.

Better remembered in our own time as the creator of the iconic I Want You for the U.S. Army poster (1917), Flagg was a prolific artist and one of the highest paid magazine and advertising illustrators of his day. As the era of mass-media advertising developed, Flagg didn’t just have a good seat on the fifty-yard line; he was a player on the field and he saw his work reproduced in all sorts of unlikely venues.

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Railway Guns (Popular Mechanics, 1914)

Railway-mounted artillery can be dated to the 19th century, however their shining moment came during World War One, and the most notorious of these was the German manufactured Paris Gunstyle=border:none which showed up in 1918 and was able to shell that city from as far as 75 miles away.

The well-illustrated article attached herein first appeared a few months prior to the war’s outbreak and concerns the railway gun that the French had on hand at the time: 7.87 inch, 6 inch and 4.7 inch howitzers which were intended for coastal defense. By 1916 both sides in the war would be deploying enormous rail-mounted naval guns, capable of delivering a far larger blow.

Click here to read about the U.S. Navy railroad guns of W.W. I.

Railway Guns (Popular Mechanics, 1914) Read More »

Railway Guns (Popular Mechanics, 1914)

Railway-mounted artillery can be dated to the 19th century, however their shining moment came during World War One, and the most notorious of these was the German manufactured Paris Gunstyle=border:none which showed up in 1918 and was able to shell that city from as far as 75 miles away.

The well-illustrated article attached herein first appeared a few months prior to the war’s outbreak and concerns the railway gun that the French had on hand at the time: 7.87 inch, 6 inch and 4.7 inch howitzers which were intended for coastal defense. By 1916 both sides in the war would be deploying enormous rail-mounted naval guns, capable of delivering a far larger blow.

Click here to read about the U.S. Navy railroad guns of W.W. I.

Railway Guns (Popular Mechanics, 1914) Read More »

Railway Guns (Popular Mechanics, 1914)

Railway-mounted artillery can be dated to the 19th century, however their shining moment came during World War One, and the most notorious of these was the German manufactured Paris Gunstyle=border:none which showed up in 1918 and was able to shell that city from as far as 75 miles away.

The well-illustrated article attached herein first appeared a few months prior to the war’s outbreak and concerns the railway gun that the French had on hand at the time: 7.87 inch, 6 inch and 4.7 inch howitzers which were intended for coastal defense. By 1916 both sides in the war would be deploying enormous rail-mounted naval guns, capable of delivering a far larger blow.

Click here to read about the U.S. Navy railroad guns of W.W. I.

Railway Guns (Popular Mechanics, 1914) Read More »