This is going to be a unique blog post, because it's going to go full circle. From Christmas, to a 1930s radio, to an old newspaper (advertising a store that hasn't existed in some time), to an old Christmas radio show recorded at that very store and possibly heard on that 1930s radio. Follow all that? It all begins and ends with Christmas. That certainly wasn't the plan for this blog post, but one thing led to another in that order.
This chain of events begins with a trip to a local tree lighting. Santa was there to visit the kids. He rolled into town on the top of a firetruck.
A mysterious photo of Mrs. Claus:
I like the way the light hit her glasses there.
After the village was lit and Santa visited the kids, there were a few local businesses and shops to look at. The town visitor center had some pieces from the historical society out to show what an old living room would have looked like at Christmas. As far as I understood, these were all local pieces.
So starting here, way back in time... Well, you'll have to use your imagination. I'm sitting in a room full of vintage furnishings. The chair felt old. I'm going to go with the 1940s on that. There's the old radio, the vintage decorations on the tree, and the old phone sitting on a cribbage board table.
Next to the tree was this old radio. I'd been hoping to find one to photograph, for a possible future project, so this was good timing. My first guess was that it was from the 40s.
Now I'm thinking it's even older than the 40s. I was just looking at a web site full of old Arvin radio pictures. Check out The Phantom Series. The Phantoms were made from 1937-38. What do you think? Do you think I may have been sitting next to a Phantom?
A close up view. It says "police/amateur" under the Arvin name and I'm wondering why. Maybe to show that it could be used in police work or by someone who just wanted to listen to the radio?
Now about that old piece of newspaper I found...
It blew over on the ground at the local dump. I saw it in my path when I turned around. I noticed it was old and picked it up without realizing quite how old it was. On the other side of the paper, there were cars with fins and that gave me a clue.
How about that "What a wonderful monotony"? You're sure not going to see that statement in any modern ads.
Other clues were the mention of Schuster's stores which haven't existed since the early 60s and this old brand of oil I'm not familiar with.
Ah, here are some answers:
Why Did Old Phone Numbers Start with Letters?
One more clue to the age of this paper: "Radio-dispatched trucks"
And then there's this list of prices. I think these prices were for paints and primers if you wanted to fix up your own car.
And how about Send C.O.D.? That's something else you don't see anymore.
So given those clues, and the fact that Schuster's was bought by Gimbels in 1962, I'm going to guess this piece of paper is from somewhere between the 1950s-1962.
I was looking up some videos of Schuster's so I could see the store and share it with you guys and what should I find but a recording of an old Christmas radio show that was made in a local Schuster's!
Billie The Brownie Christmas Show 1954
Billie the Brownie was a big deal for kids around here in the 50s. He was introduced as a character in Milwaukee stores in 1927. In 1931, Schuster's bought 15 minutes of air time broadcasting Billy and his trip from Santa's workshop to Milwaukee. Billy the Brownie actually has his own web site:
http://billiethebrowniefromschusters.com
Now here's something I just learned! Schuster's had a Christmas parade in Milwaukee before it merged into Gimbels. This article about it is worth reading:
Schuster's brings parade to town
Turns out that the Billie the Brownie you just heard became known first as a star of the parade. Even if you don't want to read about every street the parade traveled, (and if you're not from around here you probably won't care to) still look at the photos on that page. To think, that piece of newspaper I found was printed at a time when this parade was still going on. And kids could have listened to Billie the Brownie on that very radio I was pictured with above. After all, he started on his own radio show in 1931 and that radio is probably from 1937-38. Since that show was so popular with local kids and I was told that radio was from a local home, I'd say it's very possible Billy was heard on it at Christmas.
Isn't it interesting that an old piece of paper should blow over to me and prompt me to learn about some old Christmas traditions around here? It goes to show that it's worth paying attention to those little details around you. You never know what you might learn from them. I guess that paper knew the right person to approach, because I love finding old things and researching every detail I can find on them.
A mysterious photo of Mrs. Claus:
After the village was lit and Santa visited the kids, there were a few local businesses and shops to look at. The town visitor center had some pieces from the historical society out to show what an old living room would have looked like at Christmas. As far as I understood, these were all local pieces.
So starting here, way back in time... Well, you'll have to use your imagination. I'm sitting in a room full of vintage furnishings. The chair felt old. I'm going to go with the 1940s on that. There's the old radio, the vintage decorations on the tree, and the old phone sitting on a cribbage board table.
Funny enough, a man working there asked if I'd ever used a phone like this. I asked "A dial phone? Yeah..." The world has been moving so fast, that it seems possible that a person might not have used a rotary dial phone in their lifetime. Doesn't it seem like we've been using cell phones forever? But it wasn't actually that long ago that we were dialing phones and dealing with cords. That's not to say that I was in the habit of using a phone this old, though. ☺
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| It looks like one of those Halloween prop phones at Target, right? |
Check out the big lights on this tree! Very vintage. And if you look underneath, there's a set of ornaments in a box.
A close up view. It says "police/amateur" under the Arvin name and I'm wondering why. Maybe to show that it could be used in police work or by someone who just wanted to listen to the radio?
As far as the "Quick Flash" heating oils, I may not have heard of them, but with a quick search I saw that they are still in business locally. Although, now they're going by Quick Flash Heating and Cooling. You can see they were a member of the "Oil Heat Institute of Wisconsin" with that official seal.
And those old phone numbers! Check it out, two letters and five numbers. I remember talking with someone at our local historical society. She was showing me some old numbers and addresses that existed on the land where I now live and they looked a lot like this. I think there might have been just four numbers, though. That was new to me, but she said "Oh yeah, that's how they used to look when I was younger". Now we've got area codes in addition to more numbers. I guess because more people have phones and more unique numbers are needed?
Why Did Old Phone Numbers Start with Letters?
One more clue to the age of this paper: "Radio-dispatched trucks"
So given those clues, and the fact that Schuster's was bought by Gimbels in 1962, I'm going to guess this piece of paper is from somewhere between the 1950s-1962.
I was looking up some videos of Schuster's so I could see the store and share it with you guys and what should I find but a recording of an old Christmas radio show that was made in a local Schuster's!
Billie The Brownie Christmas Show 1954
http://billiethebrowniefromschusters.com
Schuster's brings parade to town
Turns out that the Billie the Brownie you just heard became known first as a star of the parade. Even if you don't want to read about every street the parade traveled, (and if you're not from around here you probably won't care to) still look at the photos on that page. To think, that piece of newspaper I found was printed at a time when this parade was still going on. And kids could have listened to Billie the Brownie on that very radio I was pictured with above. After all, he started on his own radio show in 1931 and that radio is probably from 1937-38. Since that show was so popular with local kids and I was told that radio was from a local home, I'd say it's very possible Billy was heard on it at Christmas.
Speaking of found objects, how about this box from Aldi? How cool is this?
They had exactly one bottle of this wine left. It's usually sold out instantly. I guess people just buy out a bunch of bottles at once as gifts. So that and the box were lucky finds. I'm trying to decide if it should be left as-is to hold some Christmas stuff or if I should cut it up and Mod Podge the scene to something. You can't tell here, but the box is about a foot tall and entirely covered in that illustration. I could even frame it!
Hope all your Christmas plans are coming along. I hope to have some photos up soon from The Streets of Old Milwaukee exhibit I've blogged about before. It has been dressed up for Christmas. I took an overwhelming amount of photos, so we'll see how I sift through those. I think you guys are going to like how the place looks for Christmas!
