Glen Echo Park and WW2

So I took a spin over to Glen Echo Park in MD last SAT to see, of all things, a puppet show. Situated next to the Clara Barton House in Glen Echo (near Cabin John), this place has been a destination since the 1890s. In fact, when queried, my father-in-law told me he used to ride the open-air street car in the late 1930/early 1940s out to the park and just chill out at the Crystal Pool (which is long gone: the only thing that’s left is the gate) and escape the heat of DC in the summer.   Many others ventured out by bus.  

More pix of the pool scene here, here, here, here, and here.He even told me about a rickety old roller coaster on the grounds, which I had a hard time envisioning. But a little web sleuthing confirmed this. The National Park Services has a close up of the trolley here.

One of the historical placards around the park (and there are many detailing the history of the park) shows the Spanish Ballroom in the 1940s bursting with locals and sailors, soldiers, and marines. The NPS web site says this about the war period: “During World War ll, with limitations on travel and large numbers of service men and women in the area, Glen Echo Amusement Park had an unprecedented number of visitors, most traveling by trolley from Union Station or Georgetown along the C&O Canal. The park was always ahead of the times, and one of the most popular spots in Washington. The rides and the ballroom attracted thousands - the pool alone held 3000 people.” Nosing around the Library of Congress pages yielded these pix of servicemen hanging out the the park: sailors, and sailor with two girls.

Walking around the park, as it is now, it’s hard to imagine the pool and the roller coaster. The space seems really small. Yet people came during the war years, and as I read, with all the servicemen, it was a destination spot. No doubt in other places, there were dozens of other Glen Echoes that helped fill the time, and as Fussell notes in Wartime, before having to go somewhere else…and wait.

Al McIntosh, Rock County Star-Herald

So I’ve been watching Ken Burns’ epic The War on tape (I mean, who can do 2.5 hours per night?), and checking some of the history forums online to see what folks are thinking. Generally, the tone is positive, but one thing has come up a few times: “some” are annoyed at Burns’ focus on the home front. They want more battle footage, maps, analyses from historians.

This criticism is misplaced, I think, as the more interesting parts of the show (to me, anyway), have focused on, say, race relations in Mobile, Japanese internment (and who can forget that terribly ironic Life mag paraphrased quote: “they are still cheerful, as they’ve only lost their freedom”), and of course, the work of newspaperman Al McIntosh, voiced by Tom Hanks. As Burns suggests, this work is about a simultaneous view of war, what was going on in different places during the conflict. And McIntosh voices those hometown concerns in ways that evoke much pathos.

To the home front haters, get a grip. He did both. Live with it.

Ads from the 1940s, #3 (toilet water)

Okay…when I saw this (OCT 1944), I did one of those Scooby Doo double takes. I remember seeing these types of bottles at my grand-pap’s house, but he never called it this, as I remember. But I have been assured by those “from that time” that the phrase is indeed correct.

Still, I can’t shake my own modern perceptions of the phrase, so I’m compelled to write the following: who knew that toilet water could “work magic” or be so darn “refreshing”? This is most certainly about the changing nature of words, and honestly, I’ve learned something today, which is why I enjoy studying the period.

You can get a bottle here for a $135. And it says toilet water right on the label. How cool is that?

ww2db.com Featured Image, #3

This week’s image comes from the nearly 100+ on display as part of the “WAVES: Women in the WW2 US Navy” article at ww2db.com. Many of the images are of women at work, and there is a kind of casual “oh hey…taking my picture, huh?!” vibe at work. But there are others that are much more orchestrated, and are meant to show these women as important contributors to the war effort. Many are in color, and are staged quite artfully (and some with a little sex appeal). Check out the whole WAVES set.

So according to the caption, this is Parachute Rigger 3rd Class Myra Jean Clark, who is standing in front of a very interesting set of recruitment posters. I have many of them from my travels on the internet, but have never seem them blown up like they are here, with heavy emphasis on WAVE recruitment and other US Navy themes. I very much like the one in the middle (near the top) with the man in the bow tie showing a picture of this daughter (presumably). I’ve never seen this one.

This has been another entry in the ww2db.com Featured Image partnership. The idea behind this post (and the weekly posts to come) is to highlight ww2db.com’s collection of 3500 plus photos, many culled from the National Archives, Library of Congress, the US Naval Historical Center, and other research institutions.

War Stomach

Now this ad caught my eye. It was buried deep in a corner column near the bottom of a back page, one or two from the end. Of course, there was much to worry about in those days (OCT 1944), and modern day worriers need only swap out the term that best suits them. For me, it’s “essay stomach”, for all those composition papers I get to read (good stuff some days…other days…well, no comment).

A friend of mine might say “teenager stomach” as his kid is acting, well, like teens do. You know, all goth-y and steeped in oodles of emo (that’s the term) angst. Don’t forget “office stomach” as there are more than a few a-holes acting like Michael from The Office.

The list…it goes on. One thing is certain: I’ve got some PB in my vanity. It’s a product that never goes out the style, even if the slogan is a little hacky. “Tastes good and does good.” Indeed.

Ads from the 1940s, #1

For about last two or so months, I’ve subscribed to a news archive for access to wartime articles. While the basic searches I’m doing are mostly to confirm things I’ve written, I have found other interesting things, namely the ads. More than a few have made my jaw drop just a little, and my first reaction is always “that’s wrong in so many ways.” Of course, as my father in law tells me often, “it was a different time, and you could say a lot of things you can’t now.”

Ain’t that the truth. I read the ad to someone I know and nearly got a WWE style smack down. Just good ole’ western snake oil repackaged as veggie compound to cure PMS. Spam is spam, no matter the era; except then, it ran in the newspaper.