| The Palo Alto History Project |
| A Day in the Life |
| 2006 |
| A Day in the Life: March 13th, 1939 History is most often presented compartmentally. In order to best explain complicated events, historians usually tell the linear story of one important person or event. Of course, the evolution of a nation does not really occur in such a compartmentalized way. Take a look at any daily newspaper and you get an understanding of the cacophony of stories and subjects that occupy a single historical moment --- and how they interrelate. Reading the news today, we may understand that Obama’s response to the financial crisis will be what is most remembered. But of course, life in March 2009 is all happening at once. It’s not just Obama and Wall Street --- it’s the Knicks beating the Cavaliers, Slumdog Millionaire taking Best Picture, Schwarzenegger calling a drought emergency and so on. In this spirit, it may be interesting to capture a snapshot of another era by looking back at life in Palo Alto through one day’s newspaper. Rolling back the microfilm of the Palo Alto Times --- the longtime local paper of record --- it’s best to pick a day at random. Let’s avoid December 7th, 1941 or some other “Day of Infamy” and settle upon a time when the news was a little more typical. Let’s turn back the clock 70 years this week. Welcome to the clear and bright morning of March 13th, 1939. Looking at the front page of the Palo Alto Times on that day, it is apparent that America was very much focused on events around the world. While it would still be more than two and a half years until Pearl Harbor pulled us into World War II, there was no doubt that Palo Altans were very concerned with international affairs. The front page speaks to a world increasingly out of control. The top headline concerns Slovaks rioting in the Czechoslovakian city of Bratislava, as sponsored by Nazi Germany across the border. The next day the Slovak Parliament would declare independence from the Czechoslovakian government and spend the next six years as a republic and ally of Nazi Germany --- as well as a strategic base for German attacks on Poland. The front page of the Times in those days also had a regular inset called “The World Picture,” providing a daily update on the ever-changing politics in foreign capitals. On March 13th, the news from Madrid told of the Miaja government crushing a communist revolt while simultaneously making deals with Francisco Franco. Two weeks later, Franco’s troops would storm Madrid and establish a new Spanish government. Fear and anticipation of war are also noticeable in other sections of the paper. That day’s Op-Ed section, for instance, includes a forum letter from an Olga K. Robinson of Palo Alto, who voiced her disapproval of the administration in Washington: “Any hope for a long continued peace, if you call our present condition peace, seems hopeless with President Roosevelt straining every nerve to protect our frontiers from Guam to Germany.” The sense of fascism on the march is even present in a Times editorial on local girl scouts: “In a world threatened by totalitarian philosophies, regimentation and mass thinking, the girl scout movement stands for the development of individuality.” In an interesting front page juxtaposition, affairs abroad are just a column away from scientific discoveries concerning the very nature of the universe. A small front-page article carries the rather bold headline: “Einstein: He Discovers Law of Gravity.” The story then goes on to detail the professor’s interview with L.E. Levick of the National Association of Science Writers and explains that “Einstein thinks he has discovered the clue to a long sought single law that will explain the structure of the entire universe and all the mysteries of matter and radiation.” Pretty big for a side hand column. In local news of the day, a common theme was often accidents. You’ll find a shocking number of stories in old newspapers telling of freak misfortune: car crashes, death by drowning, electrocution and a great many child deaths. In the days before guard rails, seat belts, child-proofing and increased government safety intervention, such events were an unfortunate reality of life. The March 13th paper is no different, telling of a car crash at Lytton and Middlefield while an Op-Ed letter calls for an underpass at California Avenue to avoid “needless tragedies…such as the one that occurred Monday at the California railroad crossing.” But you can also see how much our community has changed by looking beyond the front page. A scan of the classifieds on Page 8 turns up some interesting items. The great differences in prices are always a bit startling. For instance, a trip to the Lincoln Garage on El Camino Real --- “1 mile south of Mayfield on the highway” --- could net you an eight year-old Buick Sedan for a hundred bucks or a one year-old Durant Pick-Up for just $17.50. A four bedroom house in the Walter Hays neighborhood was going for just $9,500 and if you wanted to give it a fresh coat of paint, you could pick some up for just $1.35 a gallon. Other items in the classified section date Palo Alto as a still somewhat rustic locale in 1939. For instance, it would be hard to imagine finding classifieds in today’s paper for “the removal of dead or live stock,” “Winchester Hi Quality Chicks: hatching every Thursday” or even “an analysis of whether your soil is sweet or sour.” What made up a newspaper was also different in those days. Of course, in this pre-television era, the Times carried daily radio listings below a small diagram of “Your Dial,” which displayed in picture form the number at which each station could be picked up. Remarkably, one of the shows on the radio schedule still looks familiar. Present day soap opera “Guiding Light” was running locally on KPO in 1939 as a radio serial. It would eventually move to the tube and become the longest-running television drama in history. Serial stories in written form were also popular newspaper features. The paper would publish a new chapter daily and the reader would check in for the very latest. Mrs. Doc by Tom Horner is featured in the March 13th paper, as the action is picked up in Chapter Five. The “Funnies, Fads and Features” section includes a Movie Scrapbook with personality tidbits on stars such as Nigel Bruce and Dorothy Lovett, as well as a “Kwiz Korner” and an extensive page of cartoons. While most of the comic strips are similar to those found today, one cartoon “Myra North, Special Nurse” displays the ugly stereotypes of the era. The strip’s namesake is a black mammy housekeeper who is characterized in the unfortunate style often given to black servants in that time. In one line Myra remarks to her employer: “Lawdy-lawdy! Jes’ look at ‘dis shirt Mistah Freddy…” The society page certainly has a different feel as well. Mary Hampton’s fashion column discusses whether “It is right for a high school girl to wear her shirt-tails hanging out.” Concluding that it is not, she praises local schools that regulate such behavior, writing “When a school steps in to guide girls, I think they are doing something very valuable for the girls’ future.” And there are other little tidbits throughout the paper that show how much things have changed. Ads for “the Shaw Motor Co.” and “Carlson’s Home Made Candy” display just their 4 digit phone number --- “Dial 3179” one ad encourages. There are also little differences in language and fashion. An ad for Blue Bird Potato Chips shows a store clerk in a bow tie proclaiming “Folks --- they’re tops!” above a blue bird wearing a fedora. And Raymond Coiffeur D’Art on University Avenue asks women to “remember those lovely curls” of youth as it promotes adopting “The Baby Haircut” --- the Astra Wireless Permanent. Women were often identified in a way that seems rather insulting today. For instance, the paper that day reports that a turnabout party was held at the Palo Alto Yacht Club for Mrs. Fred Hage. And it’s also interesting, if a bit troubling, that regular citizens are often identified in the paper with their home address included. You certainly don’t see that anymore. But not everything is different. Closing our microfilm version of the paper’s final page, we see listings of local scores for Stanford, Paly and Elks games much as we might today. There are ads for businesses still in operation such as the Peninsula Creamery and Palo Alto Sports Shop. And movie listings for the Stanford Theatre and invitations to shop on University Avenue remind us that that while customs and styles may vary with time, the essential spirit of the city is what it always was. -Matt Bowling |
| Sources: Palo Alto Times, Palo Alto Weekly, Palo Alto Historical Association, Wikipedia |
| Memories added by readers: |
| "They're Tops!," proclaims a bow-tied clerk. (PA Times) |
| The unfortunate comic strip, "Myra North: Special Nurse." (PA Times) |
| Einstein was featured in a side column on the front page that day. (PA Times) |
| The front page of the Palo Alto Times on March 13th, 1939. (PA Times) |
| You only had to dial 4 digits to reach the Shaw Motor Company in 1939. (PA Times) |
| "Remember those lovely curls when you were a tiny tot?" (PA Times) |
| Francisco Franco was in the news on March 13th, 1939. |
| Bratislava today, where rioting took place 70 years ago this week. (PA Times) |
| The building at Ramona and Hamilton where the PA Times did their work. (PAHA) |
| Times editor Elinor Cogswell at her typewriter. |
| "I went on a field trip to the Palo Alto Times building as a kid. That little building was full of huge, scary-looking printing equipment- we were under strict orders not to stick our hands into any of it! We got to set type with little block letters. It was fascinating for us kids. The Times back then had a 'Society' section of local doings, including weddings, club luncheons, and debutante balls, always with complete description of what the bride or the 'deb' was wearing! Comics were on the next-to-last page, along with a section called 'Youth Said It' if memory serves. There, teachers from the elementary schools would publish the best of their students' poems and essays. Quite the honor!" -T |