The Times They Ain't a Changing

The French have a saying -“Plus les choses changent plus elles restent les mêmes”. In English this means “The more things change; the more they remain the same." Looking through this old newspaper confirms that saying in either language.

Now, this is no ordinary newspaper. This paper is from January 30, 1931. My father was born that day in Brooklyn, New York. He would have been 84 today had he lived. But he didn’t, and as a result he lost a long standing bet with himself that he would outlive me. It was a silly bet of $1,000.*

Now here’s where the French come into it; the headlines are pretty much the same as today's paper. The House was set to vote on Food Relief, seeking $25 million to feed the unemployed. Just like the Great Recession we just had a few years ago. The Secretary of the Treasury was backing payment of the War Bonus to the Veterans of the First World War, which they would never get; similar to the current state of affairs with the VA.

Below the fold is a story about Einstein and his theory on sunspots; and the tiny planet Eros was veering out of its usual orbit and passing the Earth at a distance of 16 million miles. There's your space exploration and Stephen Hawking all in one.     

On page 3 there is a Coast Guard Cutter capturing a rum runner; an earlier incarnation of today's continuing and unsuccessful War on Drugs.

Calvin Coolidge is on the front page, a former President undercutting the presiding one, which was Hoover. That’s about like Jimmy Carter today.

The blame for the St. Valentine Day Massacre; barely 2 years old at the time; is laid at the feet of the Chicago Police Department. There’s your Police corruption and drive by shootings neatly packaged for your enjoyment. So, cops and robbers don’t seem to have changed much either.

In my old neighborhood apartments were renting for about $35 a month. Stenographers were earning about that for one week’s work. Maids were going for $70 per month; which is about a quarter of what the stenographers made. Wage disparity is still an issue today.

The ads are all kind of quaint; advertising the latest in radios and Victrola’s. We have ads for the latest I-phones.  

Actually, about the only thing that has really changed is the Want Ads. Gone are the various categories for Men and Women. And, there are even ads for “Colored Help”. Wonder what color was cool that year? Must’ve been a shade of white I suppose. Though you don’t see those ads any longer; I have a suspicion that some folks would love to see them again.

  

I love to look at old newspapers - it's such a useful way to look back upon the past and see what; if any; progress we have made.  The cars have changed, the technology is advanced; but things are surprisingly the same. Much like this post; which is an expanded version of something I posted on this day 5 years ago. “Plus les choses changent plus elles restent les mêmes”.

*For the full story of that bet go to; 

http://robertwilliamsofbrooklyn.blogspot.com/2014/01/my-father-at-83.html

Old Textbooks - Foundations to Build Upon

When I was in Junior High School (W. Arthur Cunningham JHS 234 in Brooklyn, NY) there was a bookshelf in the back of my homeroom class. It was filled with older, obsolete textbooks. I used to browse through them with great interest, as they were from the years that my parents had attended school. I also have always loved old books, and so, accordingly I was very interested in what these books contained. There were all kinds of subjects represented on that shelf; science, literature, history and math all come to mind. But the book that held my interest the most was this little gem "Energy and Power" by Morris Meister. The copyright date is 1930, with a second printing in 1935. Inside the front cover there is one of those book stickers that we used to place inside the front cover to identify the owner of the book. This made the book even more desirable to me.

I was a good student in Social Studies, History and English. Anything which allowed my mind to wander was a welcome respite to the tedium of the classroom. Science and Math were my two worst subjects, which is kind of funny when you consider that I went on to become a Navigator aboard ships at sea, a position steeped heavily in my two worst subjects. Even more surprising, at least to me, was that I was good at it! And this little book had a little something to do with it.

While not paying attention in class one day, well, one day might be short changing myself, I came across this book and realized that it was old enough to contain all the basic information that I lacked in my understanding of all things mechanical. So, I took it home to read. And I never took it back. I've never felt badly about it, mainly because those books were destined for the trash and had been out of use for several years. I had to blow the dust off the book before I read it.

The book covers all manner of scientific subjects, among them are; Sources and Transmission of Light, Reflection and Refraction of Light, Cameras and Photography, Projection Lanterns and Motion Pictures, Color, Gravity, Friction, Inertia, Engines and Automobiles. These were all subjects for which I held very little, if any, interest. This was mainly because all of the basic information on these subjects was missing from the newer textbooks. They assumed that we knew these things. They were, in my case, wrong. And so this book became my friend.

From this little book, about 241 pages, I have learned all of the basic principles of science and the little bit of automobile mechanics that I know. I have even used this book to help me figure out how to explain stuff to my kids while they were growing up and in school.

When is a book too old? I don't think they ever really age. The information contained in almost every book is timeless in some respect. And this book is even more important now, when everything is so complicated that you can sometimes feel overwhelmed and under informed. That's when I turn to my small, but potent, collection of outdated textbooks. I even have two books from my Mom and her time at James Madison High School. One is H.G. Wells', "The Outline of History”, copyright 1931, and the other is Bassetts' "Short History of the United States", copyright 1921. Both books have been invaluable to me when trying to unravel the history of the Middle East, or even something as contemporary as the roots of the Vietnam War.

All books are sacred; they all contain something that was worth writing down. But as our knowledge continues to grow, it often becomes necessary to omit, or condense, the things we already take for granted, in order to include the latest information. When that happens, some of the basics, and the understandings that go with them, are often glossed over. It is then that I turn to my older books to solidify the foundation of the subject I am reading about.

"Chapel of Love" - The Dixie Cups (1964)

Your eyes are not deceiving you; that’s the wrong record cover for the song you’re listening to. But the reason I posted it has nothing to do with the obvious error. Rather, I have posted this simply because it may be the best stereo version of this song I have ever heard.

Take it out to the car and listen to it with the sound up and the windows closed tightly. The hi-hat is right there, the bass is thumping and the vocals are out front. The whole car; as well as your body; seems to react to it.  I don’t know if this has been re-mastered but the quality is overwhelming.

Now, think about the first time that you ever heard this song. Most likely it was on a transistor radio, or in the car on a dashboard speaker. Both very low quality. But your reaction was the same; you simply couldn’t help but respond to this song.

Now, try this little experiment. You’re in the car. One of your favorite songs is playing. Turn the bass down to zero and do the same with the treble. Now listen. It’s still pretty good.  That’s when I want you to turn off the rear speakers. Then turn the balance to one side only. This is how you used to listen to most music; on one speaker with almost no tone controls. And the music was really good!

Over the years this has become kind of a test for me whenever I listen to new music. I subject it to the single speaker, six transistor, and dashboard car radio speaker test. You know what? When I did that with this version of “Chapel of Love” I ended up singing along even louder than when listening to it in stereo surround sound. Or maybe I could just hear myself better. 

"Salesman" - A Film by David and Albert Maysles and Charlotte Zweria (1968)

This 1968 film, starring 4 real life salesmen, centers on the struggles of two members of the group, Paul Brennan and Charles McDevitt, as they target the poorer working class Catholic neighborhoods of Boston, and parts of Florida, door to door in 1967. They are trying to sell high end, expensive Bibles to working class families. The film is a combination of Arthur Miller’s “Death of a Salesman” and David Mamet’s “Glengary Glen Ross.”

There were no cell phones or laptops in 1967, when the film was shot, and beepers were still several years away for the average man. The film begins in the dead of winter in Boston. When sales plummet the team is called into the main office and given a verbal lashing, much as in the David Mamet film "Glengarry Glen Ross." Using a combination of the "carrot and the stick", the sales manager alternately praises and abuses the team, all in a vain attempt to increase sales.

From Boston, the group journeys to Miami, where they target the limited Catholic neighborhoods in an overwhelmingly Baptist state. The coffee shops where the men eat, the cheap motel rooms where they stay, are all part of the film, which at times serves as a detailed look back into the 1960's.

Paul's meltdown, mirroring those of Willy Lohman and Shelley Levene, the fictional salesmen in the two films mentioned earlier, is a sad thing to watch, as it is played out in real time. The only difference between those two fictional characters and Paul, is that Paul is a real person, as is his meltdown. It's not staged, it's not imagined. It's live. When you see this film you will understand those other two films so much more.

The film ends in a climactic way as Paul packs up to leave after experiencing a very bad sales period. While sitting on the motel bed, reminiscing about his days as an Irish kid in Boston, he laments that he could have done as his brother Charlie did, and been a cop, or like his sister Mary, worked for the phone company. If he had, he would be retiring by now, just like them. In other words, like Marlon Brando in "On the Waterfront", he "could ‘a been somebody."

A very poignant film, made all the more interesting by the technology of 1966, this documentary underscores that, although in some ways it's a different world now, in other ways; as with the difference between success and failure; some things never change.