Happy Halloween!

Here are four starlets from 1941 wishing you a Happy Halloween, posted by Film Noir Photos.  From left to right:  Barbara Britton, Ella Neal, Eva Gabor and Katherine Booth.

Sunrise Serenade: Small Fry

This morning 's Sunrise Serenade was "Small Fry" by Bing Crosby accompanied by Tommy Dorsey and His Orchestra.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line.

Betty Boop: Halloween Party

In preparation for All Hallows' Eve on Monday night, I managed to find this cartoon in which Betty Boop throws a Halloween party for all her friends, complete with bobbing for apples.  From the Internet Archive, here is the 1933 aimated short, Halloween Party. 

Turner Classic Movies In November

The Hollywood Revue posted its monthly preview of comming attractions on Turner Classic Movies for the month of November.  Apparently, the themes are blond bombshells and ships. 

If you’re a fan of blonde bombshells, this is the month for you!  Rather than having just one star of the month, TCM will be spotlighting two classic blondes every Monday and Wednesday this month.  All the classic blondes like Marilyn Monroe, Lana Turner, Jean Harlow, and Jayne Mansfield (just to name a few) will be getting their time to shine.  And in preparation for the TCM Classic Film Cruise, they’ll be playing a night of movies set on ships every Thursday. 

Sunrise Serenade: Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea" by the Boswell Sisters.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line.

Fantastic Adventures Pulp Fiction Covers

In another great posting of pulp fiction art, Golden Age Comic Book Stories featured a series of covers from Fantastic Adventures.  I chose this back cover to illustrate a trend I noticed in this series; namely, most of the aliens appear to be downright cute and apparently friendly.  Based on the back covers, our solar system was thought to be populated by a variety of lovable muppet-like creatures.

Sunrise Serenade: Push-ka-pee Shee Pie

Today's Sunrise Serenade was "Push-ka-pee Shee Pie" by Louis Jordan.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line.

Playlist For October 26, 2011

The playlist for the October 26, 2011 broadcast of the Swing Shift Shuffle has just been added to the playlist filing cabinet.

Wartime Advertising To Professionals

During World War II, the manufacturing industry converted almost entirely over to producing goods for the war effort rather than for individual consumers.  As noted by the Paleofuture blog, however, that did not keep them from advertising what they would be selling after the war; either to the public at large, or in this case, to professionals such as architects who would incorporate the industry's products into post-war infrastructure. 

The incredible rate of production for the war effort during the 1940s meant that Americans had to make certain sacrifices. The government instituted a rationing program for products like gasoline, meat, butter and rubber, and citizens were encouraged to plant “victory gardens” to grow their own food. It was common for advertisers of the early 1940s to use language that invoked a sense of shared struggle and promised that if we could just be patient, great things — usually in the form of exotic consumer goods – were waiting for Americans after the war.

This advertisement from the November 1944 issue of Pencil Points magazine is a bit unique in that its audience isn’t consumers, but architects who would be building stores after the war. (Pencil Points would later change its name to Progressive Architecture.) This particular ad was touting Westinghouse air conditioning units, which were “hermetically-sealed for dependability.” The ad begins by saying, “Every method to attract and retain more customers will be employed in the postwar stores which owners are commissioning their architects to plan today.”

Sunrise Serenade: I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town

This morning's Sunrise Serenade was "I'm Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town" by Louis Jordan.  Click on the song title to listen courtesy of Jazz On Line.