Photos, videos and docs of Alan Mays, with the keywords: "covers"

J. H. Hain, Manufacturer of Saddles, Harness, Whips, Reading, Pa.

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 03:57:10 +0000

A cameo card for Jacob Haak Hain (1823-1891), who was a saddler in Reading, Pennsylvania. For a brief biography of Hain, see History of the Hain Family: Descendants of George and Veronica Hain (Reading Eagle Press, 1941), p. 65:

"Jacob Haak Hain. . . born 1822 [or 1823, according to his gravestone], died 1891. On December 9, 1845, he married Mary Ann Goodhart, daughter of Jacob and Mary Ann (Beidler) Goodhart. She was born 1825, died 1898. He carried on a harness making business at 321 Penn Street, Reading and was Chairman of the Democratic Standing Committee, 1863-64; Clerk of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Berks County, 1872-75. Jacob, his wife, and their three children are buried in Charles Evans Cemetery."

Another of Hain's business cards (not a cameo card, however) is available as part of the Library Company of Philadelphia Digital Collections. See Jacob H. Hain, Manufacturer of Saddles, Harness, Bridles, Collars, Covers, Whips. No. 321 Penn Street, Reading, Pa.

For additional examples of cameo cards, see Best Boiler Works, Lancaster, Pa., and Eagle Marble Works, Monuments, Tombs, Gravestones, Reading, Pa.

J. H. Hain,

Manufacturer of Saddles, Harness, Whips, Collars, Fly Nets, Covers, &c.

No. 321 Penn Street, Reading, Pa.

McClement Bros.

Gas on Stomach for 20 Years

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 22:32:57 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Gas on Stomach for 20 Years. Exercies to help constipation (page 8). What to eat (page 12)."

Constipated? Bloated? Nauseated by ads that discuss such topics? Then this small 1930s advertising booklet is for you! It discusses the benefits of Adlerika, a patent medicine that contained Epson salts and other ingredients with laxative properties.

Do you suffer from other afflictions that you'd rather not discuss in mixed company? Then you only have to flip this reversible booklet over to read about the vitality of Vinol (see the cover on the other side below).

No Man Loves a Tired Nervous Woman!

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 06 Oct 2014 22:32:59 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"No Man Loves a Tired Nervous Woman! Nor does a woman love a pepless man. How to get friends (page 9). How to hold your husband's love (page 12)."

Are you tired, nervous, or--ahem!--pepless? If so, then you would surely benefit from reading this small 1930s advertising booklet. It extols the virtues of Vinol, a patent medicine that contained ingredients such as cod liver oil and beef peptones, plus alcohol (as much as 15 percent).

Do you suffer from other unpleasant afflictions instead? Then you merely need to flip over this reversible booklet (similar to an upside-down book or a tête-bêche binding) to read about the wonders of Adlerika (see the cover on the other side below).

Groundhog Lodge No. 9 Fersommling, Program Booklet Cover, 1965

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 02 Feb 2017 17:14:33 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Die elft yairlich Fersommling uns Fesht fon da Grundsow Lodsch Nummer Neina on Da Deef Runn. Mittwuch ovet der sivve un zwanzichscht Chanevari om halver siwwa owets im Nei Hilltown Schuulhause, Hilltown, Pa."

Rough translation: "The eleventh yearly gathering and feast of the Groundhog Lodge Number Nine on the Deep Run, Wednesday evening, January 27, at 6:30 in the evening in the New Hilltown Schoolhouse, Hilltown, Pa."

A groundhog adorns the cover of this 1965 booklet containing the program for a gathering of the all-male members of Grundsow Lodsch Nummer Neina (Groundhog Lodge Number Nine). The lodge is one of several groups that meet to promote the Pennsylvania Dutch language, and get-togethers often take place on or near Groundhog Day (February 2) each year.

For another Grundsow Lodsch item, see Groundhog Lodge No. 12, Gathering, Shartlesville, Pa., May 4, 1990 (below). For further information, track down a copy of William W. Donner's book, Serious Nonsense: Groundhog Lodges, Versammlinge, and Pennsylvania German Heritage (Pennsylvania State University Press, 2016).

By the way, the Pennsylvania German Groundhog Lodges and their gatherings, which began in the 1930s, are distinct from the celebrations featuring the nationally known Punxsutawney Phil, who's been prognosticating the weather for the Punxsutawney, Pa., Groundhog Club since 1886, and other local groundhog celebrities, including Octoraro Orphie, who's the weather forecaster for the Slumbering Groundhog Lodge of Quarryville, Pa. (see below), which has been in existence since 1908.

American Presidents in Miniature

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 09 Dec 2013 22:14:35 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Cover of a small booklet containing information about the set of miniature presidential figures that was issued by toy manufacturer Louis Marx and Company in the 1950s and 1960s.

Men from the Moon in America: Did They Come in a Russian Satellite?

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Fri, 05 Feb 2016 15:54:12 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Cover of the booklet Men from the Moon in America: Did They Come in a Russian Satellite?, by the evangelist Walter V. Grant, first published sometime in the 1950s.

For another out-of-this-world booklet from the 1950s, see We Met the Space People: The Story of the Mitchell Sisters:

We Met the Space People (Cropped)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 11 Sep 2013 21:40:05 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

For more information, see the full cover of this booklet:

Mogera and the Mysterians Transfer Picture Book

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 16 Mar 2015 17:34:42 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Transfer Picture Book. Made in Japan."

Cover of a small booklet containing a few pages of decals or stamps.

The creature on the cover is Mogera, a robot with laser beam eyes that first appeared in Earth Defense Force, a 1957 Japanese science fiction film that was released two years later in the United States as The Mysterians (yes, that's where the music group Question Mark and the Mysterians got its name).

The Mysterian Space Station, a ringed planet, a Sputnik-like satellite, and a couple of rockets are visible in the sky above Mogera (did his laser beams miss that rocket or are they going right through it?).

Davidson Modern Movers Matchbook

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 30 Apr 2015 19:20:22 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Davidson Modern Movers. Agents: United Van Lines, Inc. Pre-planned moving in sanitized vans. Davidson. Fast motor freight. Proven dependability since 1896. 'Feature' matchbook. Pat. 1,839,845-6. Lion Match Co., Baltimore, Md."

A die-cut matchbook cover.

Battle the Borer with Hart-Parr Power, Farm Mechanics, May 1927

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 20 Jan 2015 21:35:20 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

A gigantic corn borer caterpillar that's standing in the way of a farmer plowing his field is the startling illustration on the front cover of this May 1927 issue of Farm Mechanics, "a monthly magazine featuring farm improvements, machinery, equipment, farm buildings--for the farmer and the dealer."

The grotesque caterpillar on the cover serves as the dramatic backdrop for an advertisement extolling the virtues of the tractors manufactured by the Hart-Parr Company, which merged with three other firms in 1929 to form the Oliver Farm Equipment Company. The illustration reminds me of the oversized animals and crops on tall-tale and exaggeration postcards.

Excerpts from the advertisement on the cover:

"Battle the Borer with Hart-Parr Power. Plow deep with Hart-Parr power and 16" Vulcan plows, covering completely all corn stalks and corn borers. Battle the borer with powerful, distillate-burning Hart-Parrs, the only tractors recommended to burn cheap, low grade fuels.... Get the facts on the tremendous power of Hart-Parr tractors, which operate all corn borer control machinery efficiently through belt, drawbar, and power take-off.... Hart-Parr Company, founders of the tractor industry, Charles City, Iowa."

Flying Saucers Magazine, May 1959

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Fri, 21 Nov 2014 22:34:10 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

Interested in vintage magazines? Check out the Cover of a Magazine group, which is now administered by Smiley Derleth and yours truly. Read more about it here: Welcome to Cover of a Magazine!

The cover of this May 1959 issue of Flying Saucers: The Magazine of Space Conquest has retained its pleasant garishness even after the passage of fifty-five years. The illustration, a scene from the 1950 movie Destination Moon, shows astronauts in their spacecraft during their perilous journey to and from the moon (I believe that the one fellow is actually dispensing a space sickness pill, although it looks like he's performing dental work).

Raymond A. Palmer, who authored books on flying saucers and edited Amazing Stories and Fate magazines, was also the editor of Flying Saucers.

My Wife's Up in an Airship

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 16 Oct 2014 15:02:47 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"My Wife's Up in an Airship. Words by Arthur Longbrake. Music by Ed. Edwards. Published by Longbrake & Edwards, 50 N. 8th St., Phila., Pa. Miss Camp."

Handwritten: "Jane H. Banks. J.H.N., 7-22, 1911."

An amusing sheet music cover featuring an early airplane ("airship" referred to any type of flying machine in 1911 when this was published, but today the term is used only for dirigibles). It's disappointing, however, to discover that the lyrics of the song (see below) express the "henpecked" husband's spiteful wish that the airplane will take his wife away permanently because "It's my one chance you see / To live here happily."

For York University's copy of the sheet music, which includes a PDF version of the inside pages, see My Wife's Up in an Airship (the Web address is an alias that takes you to YorkSpace, York University's digital repository).

My Wife's Up in an Airship

Words by Arthur Longbrake. Music by Ed. Edwards.

Jonesy was a henpecked man
For him life was a joke,
His wife made him give up his dough
She always kept him broke;

One day she said I'm going up
In an airship for a ride,
Then Jones pretended to be scared
But he smiled on the side.

And when she sailed away
Some friends heard Jonesy say,

Chorus:
My wife's up in an airship
Hooray! hip, hip, hooray!
I hope she likes the trial trip
So much she'll want to stay;

For should she stay up in the air
Ye ho! my lads, ye ho!
With her up there most anywhere
I'd have some peace below.

Jonesy said I wished her luck
When she left mother earth,
But if that airship would get stuck
I'd give all I am worth;

I hope the lad who drives the ship
Will attempt a spiral glide,
Or land her in the middle of
A river three miles wide.

It's my one chance you see
To live here happily.

Chorus

Sani-Phone Hygienic Telephone Discs Ad, World Almanac and Encyclopedia, 1912 (Internet Archive)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 16:21:10 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

This Sani-Phone Hygienic Telephone Discs advertisement is a screen capture from the World Almanac and Encyclopedia, 1912, p. xiv, which is available via the Internet Archive.

For an example of a disc imprinted with a hotel's name, see Hygienic Telephone Disc, Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa., 1906:

Hygienic Telephone Disc, Bellevue-Stratford Hotel, Philadelphia, Pa., 1906

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Tue, 30 Sep 2014 16:21:12 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

The Bellevue Stratford, Phila., Pa. Talk through this disc. Hygiene Telephone Disc. A new one for each guest occupying this room.

Talk through the Hygienic Telephone Disc and protect yourself from all germ disease. Replace when soiled. U.S. Patent, June 12, 1906.

To put on, bend up small corner on line and slide on mouthpiece. Mfg. by Hygienic Telephone Disc Co., Phila., Pa.

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Worrying about germs and the spread of diseases is nothing new, as this early twentieth-century "Hygienic Telephone Disc" demonstrates. Guests at the Bellevue Stratford Hotel in Philadelphia could place one of these "Sani-Phone" discs--as they were also called--over the mouthpieces of the telephones in their rooms so they wouldn't contract tuberculosis or any other nasty bug. The discs used a wax paper-like film that was sandwiched between two layers of cardboard to keep germs away while letting sound through.

For a 1912 advertisement that shows how the disc was placed on the candlestick telephones of the time, see Sani-Phone Hygienic Telephone Discs Ad, World Almanac and Encyclopedia, 1912 (Internet Archive):

Old Pennsylvania Recipes

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Fri, 21 Mar 2014 22:23:02 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

The cover of this small die-cut cookbook, Old Pennsylvania Recipes, by Mrs. T. Roberts Appel and Mrs. Calvin N. Wenrich, published in 1933, shows an Amish girl standing in front of a gate.

Herb Shriner's New Easy Method to Harmonica Playing

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Fri, 20 Dec 2013 21:44:24 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Herb Shriner's New Easy Method to Harmonica Playing. Herb Shriner, Hoosier Boy. 35¢."

Cover of a 1955 instructional booklet by comedian Herb Shriner (1918-1970).

Wake Up, America!

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 10 Jun 2015 21:58:50 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

The sheet music for "Wake Up, America!" appeared in 1916, the year before the United States entered World War I. The cover shows Uncle Sam kneeling next to the Brooklyn Bridge with the Statue of Liberty in the background. He's preparing for war by placing a battleship in New York Harbor. The song urged Americans to "get ready to answer duty's call" in case "we are called to war."

A 1916 recording of "Wake Up, America!" is available on the Library of Congress's National Jukebox site.

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"Wake Up, America!" This is the song that inspired all America. Lyric by George Graff, Jr. Music by Jack Glogau. Leo Feist, Inc., New York.

Chorus:

Wake up, America, if we are called to war,
Are we prepared to give our lives
For our sweethearts and our wives?
Are our mothers and our homes worth fighting for?

Let us pray, God, for peace, but peace with honor,
But let's get ready to answer duty's call,
So when Old Glory stands unfurled,
Let it mean to all the world,
America is ready, that's all!

How 'Bout a Date with Your Freight?

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Wed, 07 Oct 2015 18:32:50 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"How 'bout a date with your freight? Route via Southern Railway System. To, from, or within the South."

A calendar for 1959 appears on the inside cover of this notepad. Printed on each individual sheet is the following: "Route via Southern Railway System. Fast, dependable, economical service."

Boy Wins Tom Swift Book in Fourth of July Bike Parade in the 1950s (Detail)

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Thu, 03 Jul 2014 21:15:29 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

See the full version of this photo for more information:

Skating Skills, Featuring Secrets of Roller Skating

nobody@ipernity.com (Alan Mays) — Mon, 17 Oct 2016 21:25:44 +0000

Alan Mays has posted:

"Skating Skills, featuring Secrets of Roller Skating, presented by Chicago Roller Skates. 10¢."

The cover of a 1957 advertising comic book for roller skates.