She's Ready for Her Close-Up, Ruth!

Ruth Lyons (L) and Gloria Swanson appearing on the competition circa 1950.

"For the most part Miss Swanson was suave and gracious. But I understand there was a slight clash of personalities when she appeared on Ruth Lyons’ show…Lyons opened the show by saying…it made her feel good to have somebody on the show older than Ruth is. Well, this must have gotten under Gloria’s skin a little bit, because at the first opportunity she asked Ruth whether she had children and when Ruth said she had a little girl six years old La Swanson cracked back:
“Your granddaughter no doubt.”
In another lively exchange between these two ladies, Ruth remarked that she was very happy because she had lost some weight lately and Gloria came back with: “Really? And where did you lose it—it’s hardly apparent.”
--Cincinnati Enquirer, Joseph Garretson, June 14, 1950

Images: "Remember With Me", Doubleday, 1969; coutant.org

Mockingbird, Bruce Horsfall, 1909

Image: "Birds Worth Knowing", Doubleday, 1924

"Splendid as was the mighty achievement of Greece, she never reached the majesty and grandeur of that masterpiece of sculpture that stands on the edge of Africa, head and shoulders above her achievement in the wonderous thing called the Sphinx.
The genius of Egypt spent itself upon the majesty and mystery of life and it moved thereby to a higher achievement. -Haldam Macfall"
Dedication, "An Epitome of History", 1923, Mary Louise McLaughlin, The Stratford Company

Image: Frontispiece, Line drawing by M.L. McLaughlin, "An Epitome of History"

TV Star Missing, So Is Puppeteer

L to R: Olberding, Kelly, Yougo the puppet (atop horse head) and 'Captain Glenn' Rowell on the set of "Captain Glenn's Play Club", 1952

"Rosemary Olberding, of WLW-T and Cy Kelly, puppeteer, were absent from the station Saturday, and there were reports that the couple had eloped.
Station officials would not confirm the reports but admitted that they had been auditioning replacements for Miss Olberding. They also said Mr. Kelly was leaving the station to join another show in Cleveland."
--Cincinnati Post, January 24, 1953

Image: Cincinnati Television, Jim Friedman, 2007

Lafcadio Hearn, inset, Dengler, Duveneck and Farny in Duveneck's studio before the lost Prayer on the Battlefield, painted by Duveneck & Farny for the 1875 Cincinnati Industrial Exposition.

“Mr. Barnhorn as a boy visited the studio at 231 West Fourth that Duveneck had in 1874 and 1875…Duveneck, just back from his four student years in Munich, at that time had a class in painting at the Mechanics’ Institute…In this class were Kenyon Cox, [Alfred] Brennan, [Robert] Blum, [Joseph Rodefer] DeCamp and [John Henry] Twachtman…Lafcadio Hearn, then a reporter for The Enquirer, pretended to be one of Duveneck’s pupils so he could see the lovely blond who posed for various Cincinnati artists during the summer of 1874. She was 19 years old, six feet tall, read Byron, took no pay and declined to announce her visits in advance…Francis X. Dengler, a Covington sculptor of Duveneck’s age, also painted the golden-haired Amazon. The anonymous model posed in both Duveneck’s studio and his [Dengler’s] own, for Henry F. Farny.”
--Cincinnati Enquirer, June 8, 1930

Photos: Wandering Ghost, by Jonathan Colt, 1990 and the Cincinnati Art Museum

DC Comics, 1947

“Turkeys have the good sense to like peace, quiet and uninterrupted health-giving routine…The turkeys set their own feeding and drinking schedule. A turkey will eat much more on a cool day than on an excessively warm one.”
--Fern Storer, Cincinnati Post &Times-Star, November 18, 1964

Image: goldenagecomics.org

Lost City

Detail of restored fantasy Cincinnati mural, Palm Court Grille, Neatherland Hilton Hotel

Image: Private collection

"Sean Malloy, Channel 48 announcer and jack-of-all-trades, so impressed actor Howard daSilva on a recent Sunday ‘File 48’ taping, that he returned the next day in his Ben Franklin ‘1776’ garb to film a public TV promotional spot. The 30-second ad will be offered to all Public Broadcasting Service stations nationwide."

--Steve Hoffman, Radio & TV Columnist, The Cincinnati Enquirer, July 2, 1976

Photo: Private collection

Neither Bear nor Spaniard

The Spencer House wooden Indian, winter, 1889

“…With a musket in one hand and a pack of cigars in the other…“Tecumseh”—so everybody called the wooden Indian in front of the cigar store in the old Spencer house—gazed out for many years upon the waters of the Ohio and Licking rivers. Thousands of Cincinnatians, going down Broadway to the Coney Island and other wharfboats, saw him standing there…How many wooden Indians are left in Cincinnati? The census estimates vary from three to about six.”
--Cincinnati Times-Star, June 9, 1929

Note: Spencer House is visible in the image posted yesterday...The light-colored 5-story structure with the awnings in the photo's center. "Tecumseh" in under the corner awning.

Image: Yesterday's Cincinnati, Luke Feck, 1977

"Shanty"

The Cincinnati Public Landing area before 1913, new 'Bethel' cupola on far left.

“The ‘Bethel’ was what the river roustabouts, the longshoremen, the deckhands come off the boats, as these made port here…called a “church boat”…It prospered. There, in what was then the roughest, toughest, more benighted and all-around forsaken section of the city, men whose every alternate word was a curse and whose angering meant a blow, or a knife-thrust, came, very quickly, to respect keenly the little band of sincere workers on the humble houseboat…It grew…The ‘Bethel’ bought a building…Every boat approaching Cincinnati from Louisville or from Pittsburgh, looked forward, as sailors use the term, to where the cupola on the roof marked port and the new ‘Bethel’.”
--Cincinnati Commercial-Tribune, November 11, 1928

Image: cincinnativiews.com

Public Interest

WLWT, Station ID/Local documentary promotion, 1977

"It is the purpose of the First Amendment to preserve an uninhibited marketplace of ideas in which truth will ultimately prevail, rather than to countenance monopolization of that market, whether it be by the Government itself or a private licensee. It is the right of the public to receive suitable access to social, political, esthetic, moral, and other ideas and experiences which is crucial here. That right may not constitutionally be abridged either by Congress or by the FCC."
--Red Lion Broadcasting Co. v. FCC, 395 US 367, June 9, 1969

Image: Private collection

"Wayne King has composed a “St. Nicholas Plaza March”, to be introduced by him and his orchestra at the new St. Nicholas Plaza at its formal opening next Wednesday night…It is one of three orchastras that will be heard during the festivities…King and his orchestra have been a weekly radio feature over a national network. While playing at the St. Nicholas Plaza they will broadcast three times daily over WLW during the luncheon, dinner and supper hours."

--Cincinnati Post, January 22, 1931

Image: cincinnativiews.com, info.net

Portrait of a Bachelor

Mike, a parakeet, is a friend who often greets the announcer when he returns home after radio and TV chores.

"Peter Grant, WLW-T and WLW newscaster, has been speaking to Greater Cincinnatians via the air waves for 20 years. Born Melvin Maginn in St. Louis, Mo., he was a soda jerk, assistant tree surgeon, bus driver, and law student before settling, in 1932, into his present Queen City occupation. Tall and genial, he wears tweed, rides to the hounds and talks with smooth, modulated, almost British diction. He is unmarried and hopes to remain that way during this leap year."
-- Cincinnati Enquirer, ‘Sunday Magazine’, March 2, 1952


Grant’s mother keeps the refrigerator well stocked for a snack after late work at the studio.

"Despite all the talk about Peter Grant leading a womanless existence, there’s definitely a lady in his life. She’s his mother, Mrs. Anna Maginn…Grant’s quick to admit he’s probably remained a bachelor to his present age of 57 because of his parent. 'No married man could get the service I get…I can’t imagine any other woman catering to me the way mother does...'"

Grant likes horses, especially Rodger, a former cavalry mount he keeps at Camargo Stables.

"Ruth Lyons has been industriously trying to marry Mr. Grant off for years on her program…He has a life so well organized it would be tough for a would-be wife to find an opening wedge."
--Cincinnati Enquirer, July 30, 1964

Photos and photo cut-lines: Cincinnati Pictorial Enquirer supplement, March 2, 1952

“William E. Hentschel, 670 Oak Street, artist and teacher at the Cincinnati Art Academy, was granted seven design patents numbering from 106036 to 106042…the designs are for ornamental clocks of novel and interesting appearance, many of them of ultramodernistic type.”
--The Cincinnati Enquirer, 18 September 1937

Diagram: US Patent and Trademark Office