“LOST MUSKET DIARY” Thursday, September 18, 2014

Sunny Skies 85F/29C in Rancho Las Musket

Bonjour, Mon ami!

Sorting through several boxes of personal documents and pictures the other day, after retrieving them from storage. One carton in particular seemed unusually heavy. When I opened it, I could see why. In that box were about a dozen copies of the National Geographic Magazine dated from about 1916 to the early 1920s. What a treasure trove for this History major. “What was the world up to a century ago,” I wondered as I sat down on my living room floor to leaf through them. Here’s a sampling of some of the issues and headlines:

June 1916-

The Wild Blueberry Tamed, Frederick Colville. A new industry is born in the Pine Barrens of New Jersey.

                Our First National Park East of the Mississippi. For historic trivia buffs. It was Mt. Desert Island, Maine. Article by National Geo staff.

                November 1919-

                The Rise of the New Arab Nation.  Frederick Simpich. The Allies were carving up the Middle East into their own spheres of influence. This lead story deals with the new nation of Arabia. Muslims are still called Mohammedans and the British are calling the shots.

                The Land of the Stalking Death. Melville Chater. No, not a present day epic about the Ebola pandemic, but a train ride across the Caucasus on an early anniversary of the Russian Revolution.

                Syria: The Land Link of History’s Chain. Maynard Owen Williams. (I wonder if these folks had any idea we’d still be preoccupied with this part of the world in 2014).

                March 1920 brought Massachusetts-Beehive of Business and Formosa the Beautiful.  April 1920 brought us Peary’s Explorations in the Far North and Around the World with the Salvation Army. The March 1921 issue of National Geographic was devoted to the new field of Aviation with A Personal Narrative of the First Aerial Voyage Half Around the World—From London to Australia by Aeroplane. Sir Ross Smith, K.B.E. and America in the Air by Brig. General William Mitchell, the Army officer who was court-martialed for his anti-establishment view that the Air Age had doomed battleships and the way naval warfare was conducted. He wasn’t proven right, actually until Pearl Harbor.

                As I placed these yellowing copies of the National Geo in my bookcase, I promised myself the time to do some serious reading and share some of my insights in future blogs. And, I uttered a whispered “thanks” to Tony, the maintenance man at my old apartment in Sacramento for offering them to me in the first place. At the time he had told me, “You’re a journalist. How about reading some old news stories?” I practically ripped the magazines from his hands. That’s how they found their way into my collection of “stuff,” the photos and documents I am poring over as I proceed in my personal inventory project.

                When I was a kid, back in the days before television and our radio was the main link to the world around us, LIFE Magazine was everybody’s big screen “window on the world.” LIFE brought us the images of the people and places in the world around us, far better than the Radio did. We had to use our imaginations to add visuals to the words and sounds we’d get from the big box in the living room. Once a week or so, we could catch the newsreels at our neighborhood movie theater to add some visuals to the words we saw in the paper, or LIFE magazine or heard on the radio. Dad had a radio in our old Plymouth, and I could listen to Amos ‘n Andy, or The Jack Benny Show on the way home from our Sunday outings. The National Geographic didn’t enter my life until about the time I reached puberty. The timing couldn’t have been more auspicious, because the National Geographic had lots of photos of NAKED WOMEN. It was all quite stimulating at a time in American History before Hugh Hefner helped touch off the Sexual Revolution. And it explained why the kids were usually kept away from mom and dad’s collection of National Geographic’s. Apparently, it was deemed okay to publish nude photos of “native women” from faraway places like “Darkest Africa” or the Amazon jungles. Unlike straight-laced America of the day, it was acceptable to publish naked photos of “primitive peoples” who lived their lives in the altogether or close to it. There was a good scientific reason for that. And besides, the “natives” didn’t seem to mind.

                Naturally, the first thing I looked for as I browsed through these old copies of the “Nat Geo,” were any pictures of “naked native women.” Just to see if they still meet current prurient interest standards, of course. But, alas. None. Nada. Obviously, Tony kept the hot issues.

                Well, so much for old magazines. Let’s see what else was going on in the world on this day in history:

1437 - Peasant uprising in Transylvania.

1502 - Christopher Columbus lands at Costa Rica on his 4th & last voyage.

1679 - New Hampshire becomes a county in Massachusetts Bay Colony.

1789 - First loan is made to pay salaries of the President and Congress. (Look ma, deficit spending started early! Before the GOP!)
1793 - US President George Washington lays cornerstone of Capitol building.

1848 - Baseball rules 1st baseman can tag base for out instead of runner.

1851 - New York Times starts publishing (2 cents a copy).

1885 - Riots break out in Montreal to protest against compulsory smallpox vaccination.

1927 - The Columbia Broadcasting System goes on the air. With 18 stations (and WOR as NYC affiliate).

And, Happy Birthday to:

1733 - George Read, US judge/signer Declaration of Independence.

1905 - Agnes De Mille, NYC, choreographer (Oklahoma).
1905 - Eddie "Rochester" Anderson, Oakland California, actor (Jack Benny Show).
1905 - Greta Garbo, Stockholm Sweden, actress (Ninotchka, Grand Hotel, Camille), (d. 1990).

1940 - Frankie Avalon, Philadelphia, actor (Beach movies), singer (Venus).

Now, back to the National Geographic.

Ciao, MikeBo