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The company that made them has been out of business now for more than 2 decades, but within the film industry and some theatrical circles, the term “Klieg Light” is still familiar jargon. Klieg(l) lights were (are) the powerfully bright spotlights and floodlights used for film studio work and stage productions… Continue reading “Who knocked the 'L' out of Kliegl?”
The Diagnomoscope: what a great name for, well, whatever this gadget is. Sounds like something out of an early science fiction movie. (Looks like it, too, all streamlined curves like a 1930’s automobile hood.) In fact it’s… Continue reading “Quick, Watson, get me the Supreme Diagnomoscope”
1943. World War II. Suddenly there are females now serving the war effort – the Women’s Army Corps, or “WACs”. This Quartermasters’ catalog devotes page after page to official regulation supplies for the new female Army personnel… Continue reading What the Well-Dressed WAC will Wear…
Meyer-Blanke Farm Dairy Supply Catalog, 1930: “Everything but the Cow” – what a great slogan! Both memorable and accurate, based on this 1929/1930 catalog. Continue reading “Everything but the Cow”
John B Smyth was a Chicago wholesaler of nearly everything you would need to stock a turn-of-the-20th-century general store. They offered tinned foods, teas, cigars, chocolates, soaps, dried fruits, housewares, shoe polish – even “Rump Butt Beef”…. Continue reading Meat by Mail
The Brown Fence and Wire Company, 1941: This page is eye-catching as much for the date as for the subject matter. It’s early 1941 and this moment, over half of American farms still didn’t have electricity…. Continue reading This Black Leather Team Harness will handle any farm job
Need the sound of a cow for your next silent movie? A fly? A dog? A horse? How about an interurban train whistle or a baby’s cry? All available in this 1920’s Whittle Music catalog… Continue reading The Sounds of Silents
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Spors Book of Bargains, 1939: They didn’t call it the Great Depression for nothing. You leaf through a catalog like this one and you can feel the hunger and the desperation that the Spors Company promised to address… Continue reading The Beauty of Selling
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W.S. Darley Police Equipment catalog, 1961: The Darley catalog enthusiastically, even lovingly, described the different clubs, handcuffs, straight jackets, body bags, lie detectors, guns, badges, and other law enforcement tools. Zoom in to read the copy, and we’ll come back to other pages in the future… Continue reading Delivers a stunning blow without crushing or fracturing the skull
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For our next trick, the Heaney Magic Company, 1924. Have no illusions – even Magicians consulted catalogs in the 20th century. Here the audience members’ three chosen cards are impaled at sword-point. Continue reading Catalog of Secrets
