The Huron Expositor, 1940-10-25, Page 61eSNAPSFIOT GUI ID;'
PIcTURING HALLOWE'EN
t
six
ire S
Canadian Corvette Takes To The . cher
• (By Gurney Williams in • Scribner's
Commentator)
you live in 'a hollow log without
`z+adio, and don't read the papers
+ge to the movies., you've probably
{fewer heard of a singing telegram.;
ilz t Tedi. might as well face the fact
that some day you'll lie, called to the
Phone to hear a , voice with oomph
t3ay.: '
"This is (Western, Union, Postal
Telegraph) calling. We have a sing-
ing telegram for you.. Here is the
message--"
And before yonT'll have time to gulp
twice, the oomph voice will gide out
with anything from the familiar
"Happy birthday to you,
Happy birthday to you,
Happy bir-r-thday, dear (insert -
name -01),
Happy birthday to you -u -u; u -u"
to a special message fitted to the
No. 1 Hit Parade tune of the mom-
ent. Signed "Jane," or whoever your
friend might be.
This, will cost Jane approximately
the price of a regular' message and
n ill oause you to feel siheepisrh, in;
dignant, embarrasued or pleased, de-
pending on the way you react to thin
sort of thing.. You needn't think that
disconnecting the nearest. phone is
going to let you out, either, because
your ghoulish acquaintances can
hire a eineniag Tlrestsengere••boy,--lior a
clvller extra, to give out with a singo-
gram to your face, whether you're
stumbling around in your pyjiamas
et 3 a.m., or whether you're trying to
work in an office full of stenograph -
ea -s, clerks, and the bass himself.
Singing tele/grams. were "starteid by
more or less spontaneous public de,
mend several years ago. Postal cre-
dits Mrs. Robert Maynard Hutchins,
wife of Chicago University's presi-
dent, as 'sender of the original sing-
ing telegram on January 17, 1936,
when she ooax•ed a Postal ,operator to
sing Happy. Birthday to President
Hutchins. It rated an, item in the
papers, ',and the idea spread rapidly
—much to the consternation, of .tele-
graph company officials, who thought
the fad had no place in the serious
business of commercial commmundea-
ticn, and who forth/With decided not
to accept or transmit tunes.
.But the thing got ..out of hand—
more and more subscribers demand-
ed that their special greetings be
6'n g and the co•mpaandes, mostly to
keep peace in the family; finally took
sops to handle the public's whim on
cn efficient basis. Now you can or-
c'er Tiger Rag sung to somebody in
Tacoma, of Mother Machree vocalled
to a vacationer in Milmi—it's' all t
,aa me to , the tele'gnaph people, who
have Seen _eve rything.
Most of the boys and .girls engag-
ed in. the work are 'lea from being
Allan Jone?ses;and Grace Moores, but
they're plenty louid; 'and that's what
Counts, In some of the smaller towns
in this democracy, near mutiny
reared its.head when the first wires
PIC,04e4,
j ,igln>P' =WO INU4' "Canned"
streetingS to Perfect fltT,a'gers, wee at
Sr$ ablInfOt ass. eR:ghttralasisting to tale,
isiggeOs, las Ito the realpienttn,. but
nolihtin$ two messenger boys for
vers .long. Which isn't earprtsing
whenyou coueidler . that, among otlh-
er things, *SThave been called up-
on, to (a)„. hook up evening gowns for
bulging diowager$, (b) thud e d
canaries, (c) throw rice by proxy at
weddings„ and . Id), vdeltver palls of
water, trained > 'pigs}, vows,
deodoed skunk s; and • quacking
ducks witb•. blue ribbons around their
necks.
Right now, though, a good many
of them are probably prtvatet, Won-
dering what the, hell the public will
think of next.
For
• KITCHEN
and
BATHROOM
YOU need Gillett's Lye in the
kitchen and in the bathroom.
Keep it handy for drains, for
pots and pans, for numerous
other household tasks.
Gillett's Lye will save you
hours of hard work—it's the
easy, efficient, economical way
of cleaning.
'Never dissolve lye in hot water. The
action of the lye itself
heats the water.
FREE BOOKLET — The Gillett's Lye
Booklet tells how this powerful cleanser
clears clogged drains . .keeps out-
houses clean and odorless by, destroying
the contents of the closet ... how it
performs dozens of tasks. Send for a
free copy, to Standard Brands Ltd.,
Fraser Ave and Liberty Street,.
Toronto, Ont.
I.
'majorprogram t ructlon of about 65 speedy corvettes and some 30
.. .
Canada s r ram involves the cost
mine-sweepers, at a cost of approximately $25,000,000. One of these sleek Corvettes ishere showli"'^'--'
taking to the water at a recent launching. -
-arrived marked "SING" for local dis
tribution; but no case is • .reported
where the local Western Union . or
Postal Telegriaph force in charge
didn't do its best to deliver the goods.
There are instances . where lone op-
erators, especially those on night
shifts, 'haven't ,been able to carry a
tune in a wash tub; but 'they niever-
theleas.cieared their throats, mimi'd
n vocalized a
acouple .of •times, and
greeting—probably as much to their
own amazement as to that of the lis-
tener at the other end of the -line. line.
It teems 'to be a tradition that the
message must go through, if it's dec-
ent.
People generally are so pleased and
surprised by these remembrances
that they merely say, "Thank` you,"
and .hang up;. but, add cases ane en
record. Have a few': -
Case 1. In Los Angeles last Chris.t-
uras Eve, a certain gentleman retired
togacca JUST LIKE
4
"We didn't know whether
or not he was coming .. .
JG DISJA1%ICF
... just to show he hadn't forgotten
us." And so it goes. Long Distance
is the single man's answer to many
robleiln—and the married man's
to Eest road home. Always at your
ee< wherever you may be.
Or PRIV slowick
MISS E. M. CLAP
Manager,
much • the worse for 'wear, and was
awakened at 2 a.m. to hear a, dulcet
voice Tender "Silent Night" for him.
"This can't be real," the man Whis-
pered to himself. "I'm dead—IM in
heaven!" In+ a mighty effort- to ori-
ent himself„ he" made an out -of -line -
remark to the operator and • was
caught up short, if 'tactfully, by the
telegraphic 'angel. '
• •Case 2 ' A • young lady in Elmira,
N. Y., thought, as so many still dol—
that the Happy -birthday -to -her was a
gag, and 'she startled the operator by.
coming right back with a melodious
"Good morning to you -u -u, etc."
Qias•e 3.. Late hone 'afterno•o,nt a Phil-
adelphia man, who. bad been cele-
brating all day, answered his phione
and took in a birthday 'singogram.
"Thaz wunnen•ful!" he cried ecstatic-
ally. "Sang it again?" The ',operator
graciously tcomplie,d, and the listener
began to blubber. . "You're the oney
filen' I got in the entire world," he
said between sobs. "Wiz your
name?"' '
Case 4. A man in Hollywood was
so pleased• by a .singogram from his
sweetheart that he ordered Western
Union to sendl.•.a boy to her home
early int -the morhimg and. brew her a
cup of coffee. Th.e 'boy performed, the
assignment perfectly, and the sur-
priseJdabeauty was served her break-
fast in bed.
Two Years age P.osital Telegraph stunt ta the otter wacky =ties com-
jum'ped into the 'singing business .with prising their screwball show. At this
both- feet 'ashen they rigged up spe- writing the actor who dresses the
.coal Valentine lyitics ' for the then part of the messenger is being toss -
popular' "Bei Mir -. Bist Du Schoen." ed out of windows and dropped
On' February 14, 1938, Postal opera-. 1:liootigh trap doors niiglutly before he
tors, . sang the .thing' 3,500 times in has -,half finished his greeting, and
New . York City alone. This year there is no telling where it'll go
Postalis Cupid- 'disihed ,out parodies .from there.
for "Lilacs in .the Rain" and "Scat- .Last month anodic comic Fred Al-
terbrain."' They look silly in print Ter.' interviewed Western Union's star
but sure sounded pretty over the warbler- Margaret. Melieh ..over .the
phone., air. Far two iyears Miss Me1'4eh
No..1 "Scatterbrain" took 25 words: (winom Alden termed "the tem-w:ord
"You're as -pretty asi a picture Jestalea' Dnago,nette") has • sung over
You',re so lovely, s,o divine; the phone more than fifty 'telegrams.
Say you'll be my sweetheart, a Cay, and: she "is only., one of ten.
Say you'll be my Valentvne." . a?ris assi•gne'd to such service in. Man -
No: 2 version ina,k a Leap Year hattan. On :h6lidays, the fbree some -
number. (23 w,ords')'il times reaches thirty members. Miss
"You've been courting me' for ages, Melich once sang a ,birthday greet-.
You've been wasting lots of time;,, rg to„ a Pekinese pup without bat -
Love within me .rages— • ting an eye; but it was when sheWon't You be my Valentine?" t was faced' with the job of singing one
By now they've worked out and are to Lawrence Tibbett that she flindh-
ready with • an . -aster greeting to ,be ed. She and three other .girls final -
sung to Irving Belrlin's "Easter Par -i ly got a• quartette together ;and ser -
sae." All this was by permission of, enaded an appreciative Mr. Tibbett
without faltering.
Face-to-face quartettes, by the way,
are more •poliular with the publiC
than with th,e telegraph companies.
A four -boy rendition of "Y,lippy An-
niversary to' You" (a mieter that
would - baffle a bard) is, spectacular
and fetches four dollars plus the
cost of the message, but with four
of ten' boys out on one errand it's.
liable to cripple a branch. office. Once
it a while the resultant publicity
pays, provided other subscribers
aren't inconvenienced,
When Ann Sheridan arrived from
Hollywood last fall, for example, a
Western Union gtiartette greeted her
at Grand Central Waith; a. lusty chorus
of "Happy Boit'day to yolFu-u-u" and
the publicity (with pix) wadi prodigi-
ous, Last Christmas, Theatre Guild,
Press Representative Joe Heidt sent
a singing quartette ,greeting to Al-
fred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, who
were playing a onea lig',ht .stand • in
Fort Worth. The Lusts ,demanded
four encores and it cost Heidt four-
teen' donlara, but the publicity was
mutual and colossal.
' Mother's Day. willbe along soon,
now; ,and cotne June, Dad will get
It in the ear with:
"Here's to the finest of daddies,
Here's to the. finest of daddies,
Here's to the finest of daddies,
The finest of thein all."
Sung, of course, to the tune of
"Poir`F1'e's a /ally Good Fellow." Don't
put it past the telegraph companies,
though, to cook up something new, bry
Sure. And don't be liurprlsiied if they
figure out something for Jul* 4th toe,;
the service still has. growing pains.
Smn!gograms and .ether social met -
Sages are irorfontath g s .sretrtiee Qtttr
0,,dIe ith!e field o4 enrtterthintmfent ;
they"ne helping agreat deal to re -
Move time fear many .,peeplo etPetil-
etnee upon reccerlvisig a .tolegreet. X1110
gtlblic may net 'realize till ee, bait tb!0
telegraph botnpan eo diet =that's wne
reason "catrlie'd" greentige are i ft -
i
the country last year, for instranee,
Postal operators in cities visited. by
Whdten%an were asked .to call a •se-
lect list of Local residents, hum a few
bars of the ,maestro's theme-, "Rhap-
sody in Blue," and follow up" with an.
invitation to tune their radios to • the
Chesterfield program.
Ini a Manhattan bar +.not long ago,
three 'convivial. gent's started harm-
onizing, thelack
n will,bu
e is
oiiiziu•g, as g
of a tenor cramped their style until
n inspired member of the trio call-
ed Postal and asked. if they could
complete a quartette. Postal said,
well, what did they Want- to sein'g?
"Down by the Old Mill Stream" -was
the request. Presently the quartette
was functioning . nnoely-with tha trio
hanging...onto one phone, the tenor
pitching in from a branch office. It
cost the celebrants forty -once cents
including city tax. '
The m,ovie,s, the stage and -radio
have all added impetus to the warb-
ling wires. Singing telegram se-
quences have been featured in sev-
eral pictures since Bing Crosby im-
personated a melodious messenger in
"Fast Side of Heaven." As for the
stage, someone sent a crooning mes-
senger to heckle a crooning Johnson
during a performance of 'their fabu-
lously ,successful "Hellz-a-Poppins'
and_ •e gag made such a " hit with
the audience that O. & J. added the
Fowl Supper -
"The 'feeding of over 1,500 people
was the gigantic task of the women,
of the Ctrditon Evangelical Church
at their fowl supper Thursday eve-
ning of last week. The `fame 'of this
annual event has spread far' and
wide and people were present from
Lonid'om,-Sf. -Thoriiias,-Hayiir1Itcma--Tta
ronto, Kitchener, Detroit, Buffalo and
no doubt other plaices. The London
Rotary Club was represented by 20
persons. They had made reserva-
tion forthat number but.. as they
were late in arriving it was impos-
sible to 'hold the table owing. to the
crowd.—Exeter Times; Advocate.
Brown:' "Is there any':truth in the
rsimor that .Angus M'Tavish has
bought that filling station at the cos --
net'?" • .
Green: "Well, I ,don't know • for
sure; but the 'free air' sign was tak-
en down .y,es,terday."' •
'Darling, I won a
cookery school."
"Wonderful! But
this I'm gating?"
"Guess."
"Your medal?".
ward I threw ,myself forward and his
went harmlessly over 'my head. Ev-
entually
veentually the animal gave up the at-
tempt to fell Me and trotted oft into
the jungle. The following day I came
to a cliff overlooking the, lea, and
there on,, the .beach I saw that same
lion. I stood transfixed at its antics.”
"Good gracious!" put in, one of the
breathless Listeners. "What was he
doing?„
"What was he doing?" said the
hunter dramatically. "Perhaps you
won't believe me, but it was a fact.,
That lion was practising short
jumps!"
fhe copyright owners, and Postal
May -sooa be paying royalties to Tin
Pan .' .ley. A fine thing, they think,
when a telegraph company has to
take out a music- license.
Western Union swears by tiane•-
honored tunes in the public domain
(Jingle Bells; . Happy Birthday, Auld
Lang Syne) and adapts 'lyrics to fit
them and the occasion (Mother's—
and Father's Days, Thanksgiving,
Christmas, New Year's). Their 'va,r-
tous,' Valentine ' n/ambers this year
were sung to "My Bonnie Liles Over
the 'Ocean," to ;wit:
"My Darling, I ,love you so dealnly;
You're cliiai-mitng, you're sweet,
you're, divine.
'I ask of you, Sweetheart, sincere-
ly,
Will you be, sweet Valentine?"
This policy, they believe, (1) obvi-
ates possible copyright squabbles, (2)
makes it easy, . for the recipient to
keep track of what's going on, and
(3) saves the operators a lot of trou-
ble. "We dealt hire vocalists," W. U.
says, "so we use familiar tunes that
anyone can sing." Pei4hiaps som'.ebedy
sent you a St. Patrick's Day greet-
is•g, to the tune Of ' "Wearin' of the
Green." If you didn't get, one, it
went:
"Sure .it's' luck I wislh you, (inse'rt-
name-of), dear,
On this, our holiday;
May ,good St. Patrick bring to
You
411 happimes,k I pray,'
For sheer ' tiiim'sey, thought, it
would be ,dfifficalt . to find anything
better than "%rest/ern Union's ""carried"
'valentine mieat,age No 240:
",Rose
e Ore red,
Violets aro blue;
Sugar, you're sweet—
Via WU WTI 'GM"
Regardless of the separate semis,
of thought, bathcompanies are Ott
the sa niglm'g ,job 40 do the ' job, with
x131. 'its Oaftyr t ,i`iatitste. When Paul
Whitcomb, and Via irarod vote totttitrg
medal at the
tell me, What is
•
Mrs. Jones -was taken by a friend"
to` her first symphony concert. She
sat very silent during the first item
on the program, and at the end whis-,
pered to her companion:
"What's the book the conductor
keeps .looking at?"
"O,h, that's the score of the- ove'i'-
tune," replied her friend. 's,
"Really!" she crieidi.... "W.ho's win-
ning?"
•
A Toting doctor, whose practice was
'not great, sat in his study reading
away "a lazy afternoon: His maid ap•
peared at the door. .
".Doctor, them boys is stealing your
green apples again. Shall I chase
them away?"
The ,doetnr looked thoughtful for a
Moment, then levelled his eyes' at his
maid:
"No!" be directed:
•
• "Time after Sime," said the big -
game hunter, "the lion sprang at me,
.and time after time a5 he leapt ,for-
` Keeps
\ I Your
STOVE'
Lookins'
Nice
i U. EQ <10 IDs- PISTE
A. QUICK SHINE
IN NO TIME
Your Next Visit to
TORONTO -
Try
HOTEL WAVERLEY
Located: on. Wide Spadina Ave.
at College St.
Easy Parking Facilities
Convenient to Highways
•
RatesSingle - - Kirk MN
Double • - ;Ult.SS.N
Four to Room, t5.00 to $6.01
•
Close to _tIie;,.,_uni_versity,_._:
-Parliament Buildings,
Maple Leaf Gardens,
Theatres, Hospitals,
Wholesale Houses, ani
the Fashionable Retail
Shopping Distrlot
- Ar NG POWB. .. PR[IIDOfr
a
This was an easy shot—one small
small and Targe one hi reflectors ou
high speed film In the camera.
HAL-LowuhN is, or Should be, a
very special occasion for the
amateur photographer: "Probably
none of us World like a steady, year -
'round diet of weird, grotesque _Pic*
tares—but for occasional spice and
variety, they're fine. And Hallow-
e'en activities ,provide plenty of
opportunity for such Shots.
There are, in fact,' two kinds of
pictures --record shots, covering the
Hallowe'en party and the children's
costumes; and "stunt" shots, with
odd Or extraordinary lightings.
The best stunt lighting for many
Idallowe'en shots is to have your
photo lightsIo°w--that is, down close
to the floor, so ,that the light shines
up into the subject's face: This sug-
gests
ugge'sts the lighting you get from a.
gypsy fire, Or a witchas cariildron.
Silhouette shots giie also a good.
Its,11tiwe'en stunt, and taking them
canbbe part of the,liailowe'en party.
Just stretch a white sheet over a
doorway', illuminate It froth behind,
and teas the eostubied gueSts fu.
front' Of • it with the rbont 'Rgbts'
turned off. Have tWo large amateur
photo bulb inside the pumpkin, a
tside, and a snapshot exposure with
Get one like it for Hallowe'en.
flood bulbs in reflectors, about five
feet back of the sheet; put the cam-
era on a firm support, and take quick
"open and shut" time exposures on
high speed' film.
Try some stunt lightings with the
jack-olanterni too. For snapshots
with a box camera, use -a small
photo bulb inside the pumpkin; and
a large and small bulb in reflectors
outside as for snapshots at night.
Hang the bulb inside so that it
does not touch the surface of the
pumpkin.
High speed film, of course, is right
for all -these Hallowe'en shots. In
taking the, party pictures, place
your photo lights in advance at
strategic spots—etch as the apple -
,bobbing •.tub, or the fortune-teller's
tent. Then just stand by, and shoot
as ojrportuhittes occur.
Keep a complete record. A good.,
Hallowe'en. .tarty is wort picturing
in njetail---afid there's a lot of satis-
faction in having a well-rounded
picture story,,to oho* your friends
and the patents of your children's
guests.
301 John van Guilder