Jessica Murray

Lyrics to 1930s songs

Sep 6, 2021 | Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part of 5 in the series Popular Songs Magazine: October 1935

This page features a sexy photo of contralto singer and 1930s San Francisco radio personality Nola Day, a native of Iceland.
According to The Magic Key of RCA Radio Program: “NOLA DAY, NBC contralto, who has appeared as a Magic Key guest, is a native of Iceland but was brought to the United States when she was a baby. She grew up in Tacoma. When she was still in her teens she joined a touring organization that gave entertainments in the logging camps in the Northwest. At the end of a two-years’ tour Nola went to Portland, Oregon, and after a year’s vocal training she was selected as a soloist with the Portland Symphony Orchestra. Later she went to Seattle where she sang in “The Vagabond King,” and later proved her vocal versatility by singing with a dance orchestra. When KOMO, Seattle, put on its first transcontinental over NBC, Nola took part. This was her radio debut. She later became a member of the NSC staff in San Francisco. At present she is with NBC in New York.”

Enjoy the song lyrics on this page below. I’ve tried to find audio/video to go with each song, but without much success.

Lyrics to 1930s songs

Sep 2, 2021 | Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 1 of 5 in the series Popular Songs Magazine: October 1935

I wish that I could find more audio recordings to go with these 1930s song lyrics, but no luck 🙁 This page of lyrics, in particular, I wonder how the music to them went. How quickly culture is lost!

Lyrics to 1930s popular songs

Aug 29, 2021 | Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 3 of 5 in the series Popular Songs Magazine: October 1935

Here is another page of 1930s lyrics from the October 1935 edition of Popular Music Magazine. Unfortunately, I can only find audio to the song “A Little Bit Later On”. It’s so sad to lose voices of the past. Literally. The singer pictured in a swimsuit is Maxine Gray.

Lyrics to popular 1930s songs

Aug 25, 2021 | Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 4 of 5 in the series Popular Songs Magazine: October 1935

These next 4 pages from the October 1935 Popular Songs Magazine contain lyrics to the popular songs of the mid-30s, along with pictures of well known singers. This page includes lyrics to Empty Saddles, Juanita, The Franklin D. Roosevelt March, Dancing Til Dawn, and the Beautiful Danube Waltz.

Popular Songs Magazine: October 1935

Aug 21, 2021 | Featured, Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 2 of 5 in the series Popular Songs Magazine: October 1935

Ginger Rogers graced the front cover of the October 1935 edition of Popular Songs Magazine. It advertised the lyrics to over 30 popular songs of the mid-1930s!

On the inner cover was a full page illustrated advertisement for diamond engagement rings, wedding rings, watches, and other jewelry for men and women wanting great values by Royal Diamond and Watch of 170 Broadway, NYC. You could could get a diamond engagement and wedding ring set for only $29.75 (approximately $525.12 in 2016 dollars).

The Perfolastic shapewear had a money back guarantee if it did not reduce your waist and hips by 3 inches, and an offer to send a free sample of the perforated elastic material that the girdles were made from. This illustrates the ideal 1930s silhouette of narrow waist and hips, with a small to medium bust.
…

The evolution of chorus girls and showing skin on stage

Aug 17, 2021 | Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 7 of 30 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

These next few pages of old pictures are a history of chorus girls and showing skin on stage, from Can Can girls, to to Mae West, to the Zigfield Follies, and the Rockettes.

Pinups on billboards, book covers, and record covers.

Aug 13, 2021 | Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 11 of 30 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

Here’s an interesting history of pinups in advertising! Showing pictures of billboards from the 1800s-1950s, with a focus on pretty girls in beer advertisements.

The next page shows samples of pretty women used to advertise books and, the latest thing, record album covers. Even classical music “moves off the shelves” faster when an attractive woman is pictured on it!

Pretty Girls Sold Tobacco – old cigarette and tobacco ads

Aug 9, 2021 | Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 9 of 30 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

Here is an interesting history of tobacco advertisements using pretty women and pinups as bait, and to gain broader social acceptance of smoking cigarettes! To explain changes in tobacco advertising, you have to take a historical perspective, which this article explains best. Briefly the history of tobacco ads (according to this 1953 article):

How to sell shirts and bed sheets with Cheesecake Pinups

Aug 5, 2021 | Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 13 of 30 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

Here is illustrated how two marketing companies used cheesecake pinup, double entendre, and sexual innuendo to sell mens shirts and bed sheets.

Lingerie advertisements from the 1800s to the 1950s

Aug 1, 2021 | Old Magazine Scans | 0 |

This entry is part 12 of 30 in the series CheeseCake Pinup Magazine - 1953

Here are shown some lingerie and shapewear ads from the 1800s-1950s. The chemise replaced the corset cover by 1918, although shape wear was still worn in the 1920s to achieve that stylish “boyish” form. The inflatable bra of the 1950s replaced the “Victoria” bosom pad of 1879… such changes in lingerie styles and advertisements!

Hollywood Steps Out – 1930s celebrity charicature cartoon

Jul 28, 2021 | Old Movies | 0 |

Hollywood Steps Out is the first old film I’m featuring in this ephemera blog. I found a discussion about 1930s Old Hollywood celebrity caricatures on FaceBook a month ago, and decided to research further.

Bus Routes to the Muny and Guarantors of the 1943 Opera Season

Jul 24, 2021 | Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 13 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

It appears as if bus service to the Muny at Forest Park during World War II was very comprehensive! Bus service extended as far as Gravois and Hampton, Grand and Holly Hills, 3rd and Washington (downtown), Florissant and Kingshighway, and Delmar and DeBalviere… a pretty wide radius!

Also in these last few pages of the 1943 St Louis Municipal Opera program, besides ads, was the list of large donors who gave to the Municipal Theatre Associations guarantee fund. It reads like a long list of old St. Louis society’s who’s-who and includes Adolphus Busch II and his son, August Buch (of the Anheuser-Busch brewery). It’s interesting to see who the early supporters of the Muny were!

A Brief History of the St. Louis Municipal Theater Association (as written in 1943)

Jul 20, 2021 | Featured, Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 2 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

Old St. Louis Businesses

Jul 16, 2021 | Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 3 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

These pages of the Municipal Opera Silver Anniversary program contained small ads for local companies that had been in business for 50 years and 75 years or more, as of 1943! This showcased St. Louis businesses that had started before 1869 and 1894. I wonder how many are still in business?

1940s St. Louis Municipal Opera Seating Chart and Ads

Jul 12, 2021 | Featured, Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 4 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

This set of scans of the 1943 St. Louis Municipal Opera Theater Program includes the seating chart and seat prices in an advertisement for C.L. Finot Inc. Concessionaires. It looks like during WWII, The Muny seated 10,000 people and you could get front section box seats for two dollars, or sit in the back section for 25 cents. This was my favorite page in this set.

St. Louis WWII Business Ads

Jul 8, 2021 | Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 5 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

Here are more pages of WWII business ads from the 1943 St. Louis Municipal Opera program. This starts with an advertisement for The Gatesworth (and the Walnut Room), and with the synopsis for The Great Waltz underneath.

WWII Patriotic Ads for St. Louis Businesses

Jul 4, 2021 | Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 6 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

Synopsis of The Great Waltz and more 1943 St. Louis Business advertisments

Jun 30, 2021 | Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 7 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

Here are more St. Louis beer and brewery advertisements and the synopsis of The Great Waltz from the 1943 St. Louis Municipal Opera Program.

Advertisers in these pages included: Falstaff Brewing Company, Manhattan Coffee, Efficiency Service Co (employment specialists), Griesedieck Brothers Brewing Company, The Circus Snack Bar at the Forest Park Hotel, and the Gaylord Container Corporation.

1940s ads for St. Louis Businesses

Jun 26, 2021 | Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 8 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

A bit of St. Louis Beer History and various 1940s Advertisements

Jun 22, 2021 | Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 9 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

4 more pages of scans from the St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943 season. These include WWII-era ads for Hyde Park Beer, Coca Cola, Tums, and Kieffer Cleaners. The cleaners advertisement has prices listed, which I think is pretty interesting.

Four pages from the 1943 Municipal Opera Program

Jun 18, 2021 | Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 10 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

These next four pages of the 1943 St. Louis Municipal Opera program were packed with advertisements! Monsanto Chemicals had a full page ad, “Streamlined Flavor” appealing to World War II sensibilities:

World War 2 advertisements

Jun 14, 2021 | Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 11 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

Here are four more pages scanned from the 25th anniversary program of the St. Louis Municipal Opera (now known as The Muny).

The Zodiac Cocktail Lounge and Bar at the Chase Park Hotel advertised Neil Bondshu and his Society Orchestra, Mary Raye and Naldi, Don Tannen (Russian Comedy Song Star), and “Snow White” Sensational Wizard of Tap with Bobby Swain and his “Note-ables”. Entertainment nightly with Joe Karnes and Betty Barr (satirical songs and piano styling). This was probably my favorite advertisement of these pages, because they really gave me a flavor for the type of WWII nightlife and entertainment available here in St. Louis.

1940s theater program advertisements

Jun 10, 2021 | Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 12 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

Here are 4 more pages out of the 25th Anniversary Program for the 1943 season at the St. Louis Municipal Opera (The Muny). The St. Louis Municipal Opera was started in 1918, and 1943 was the 25th (Silver Anniversary) Season. Included is an advertisement for the musical romance “Rosalie”, an ad for Hunter Meat Food Products (out of East St. Louis Illinois), Philip Morris Cigarettes, Alpen Brau Beer (and KMOX) promotional advertisement, and an ad for Nu Grape Soda (bottled locally by American Soda Water Co.).

Silver Anniversary of the St. Louis Municipal Opera – 1943 Season Program

Jun 6, 2021 | Featured, Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part 1 of 13 in the series St. Louis Municipal Opera 1943

Illustrated 1960s baby shower cards with rhymes inside

Jun 2, 2021 | Featured, Misc. Ephemera | 0 |

This entry is part of 10 in the series 1960s New Baby and Baby Shower Cards

I am just posting the rest of these 1960s baby shower cards all at once! These are vertical new baby welcome cards from that 1962 baby shower. I absolutely love the illustrations on the fronts of these cards, and the cute happy rhymes that are inside!

The mother-to-be wrote what gifts she received on the backs of these cards, which I’ve scanned also.

Here are a few of the baby shower rhymes….