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Experiencing Coach Class in 1910s & Personal Hygiene in 1910s?

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Thursday, January 30, 2020 10:03 AM

There is a Canadian strip called "For Better Or Worse" that's carried by the Tribune in which the characters are aging.

The daily commute is part of everyday life but I get two rides a day out of it. Paul
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Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 8:03 PM

charlie hebdo

 

 
54light15

Dick Tracy is still being published? I haven't seen it in many years. I stopped reading it when the characters were flying around in space in spacecraft that looked like garbage cans. The original strips done by Chester Gould could be pretty violent, sort of a comic strip version of Warner Brothers gangster movies of the 1930s. 

 

 

 

It's Dick Tracy in name only.

 

Does it feature Junior and Sparkle's geandchildren or great-grandchildren?

As I recall, the strip" Gasoline Alley", was the only one I saw which had the characters aging.

Cookie Bumstead was born about 1941 or 1942--she and Alexander ("Baby Dumpling") are still teenagers.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 5:46 PM

York1

As a kid, Dick Tracy was on the front page of the four page color Sunday comics in our paper.  The cartoonist had great criminals in the strip.

 

I remember those full-page Sunday comics in the New York Daily News decades back, and "Dick Tracy" was one of them.

Chester Gould was still alive at the time, and he drew criminals the way he always did, all the criminals were ugly.  Stood to reason, crime was ugly, and Gould didn't glamorize it.  And when a villian was killed the last you saw of him was stretched out on a mortuary slab.  

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Posted by York1 on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 4:27 PM

As a kid, Dick Tracy was on the front page of the four page color Sunday comics in our paper.  The cartoonist had great criminals in the strip.

York1 John       

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 4:26 PM

54light15

Dick Tracy is still being published? I haven't seen it in many years. I stopped reading it when the characters were flying around in space in spacecraft that looked like garbage cans. The original strips done by Chester Gould could be pretty violent, sort of a comic strip version of Warner Brothers gangster movies of the 1930s. 

 

It's Dick Tracy in name only.

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Posted by 54light15 on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 3:36 PM

Dick Tracy is still being published? I haven't seen it in many years. I stopped reading it when the characters were flying around in space in spacecraft that looked like garbage cans. The original strips done by Chester Gould could be pretty violent, sort of a comic strip version of Warner Brothers gangster movies of the 1930s. 

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Posted by Deggesty on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 10:38 AM

CSSHEGEWISCH

The Chicago Tribune still carries Dick Tracy, and B O Plenty and his daughter Sparkle turn up every now and again.

 

The depiction of B.O. Plenty gives the impression that he is not careful about personal hygiene; among other matters, he has never combed his beard.

Incidentally, "Dick Tracy" must be stuck in time; seventy years ago, B.O. was not a young man. Are Junior Tracy and Sparkle still around? I have not see the strip for perhaps fifty years.

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Posted by samfp1943 on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 10:20 AM

Monday night! I typed in a 'researched response to one of the Forum Threads'...About three or four times! Crying      I'd type in the 'Enter' key, and the darn [***!@#$..}thing would disapper..... That really SUCKED! Bang Head

  So thanks for the 'explanations' !  I thought, I was the one, being singled out for a frontal 'Gremlin' attack ..Sigh

SoapBoxPersonally, I'd love to see some of those IT 'Gremlins' take a ride in a really hot tub;installed in an AMTRK sleeper car, riding over a jointed rail territory at about top speed....Whistling   OR MAYBE, sittin' in an incenerator(?)  As the ambulance chasers say: EQUAL JUSTICE!DevilDevil

 

 


 

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Posted by CSSHEGEWISCH on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 10:14 AM

The Chicago Tribune still carries Dick Tracy, and B O Plenty and his daughter Sparkle turn up every now and again.

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Posted by charlie hebdo on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 10:09 AM

Erik_Mag

 

 
Ulrich

Personal hygiene is a relatively recent phenomenon. 100+ years ago people didn't bathe daily, brush their teeth, and deodorant and other hygiene products were simply not available. The good old days.. bad teeth and horrible BO.. on trains and everywhere else. 

 

 

Lifebuoy Soap radio ads from the '30s were famous for the "B.O." foghorn, so the shift in personal hygeine was definitely taking place by 1930. I would suspect that air conditioned trains also helped as people weren't sweating as much in transit.

 

In childhood,  I recall a character in the Dick Tracy cartoon called B.O. Plenty. 

https://www.google.com/search?q=b.o.+plenty&oq=b.o.+plenty&aqs=chrome..69i57.7976j0j7&client=ms-android-vivo&sourceid=chrome-mobile&ie=UTF-8#imgrc=fuz8Na8CH1ozgM:

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Wednesday, January 29, 2020 8:51 AM

Penny Trains

 

 
Flintlock76
I watched a documentary a few years ago about the Baths of Caracalla that described exactly that, even showed the ruins of the same.

 

Probably the one I'm thinking of where they built a small replica?  I remember they had hot coals under the floor in the one I saw.  Probably a Nova episode btw.

 

I don't remember anyone building a replica on the show I watched, it was more of a walk-through the ruins and a "this-did-that" and "this-was-that" show.

Doing some follow up research last night I learned the Baths lasted until the 9th Century AD, the buildings that is, not the bath function, and were wrecked by an earthquake.  Much of the masonry was removed for other building projects, not uncommon in those days, leaving what we see now. 

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Posted by Erik_Mag on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 10:28 PM

Ulrich

Personal hygiene is a relatively recent phenomenon. 100+ years ago people didn't bathe daily, brush their teeth, and deodorant and other hygiene products were simply not available. The good old days.. bad teeth and horrible BO.. on trains and everywhere else. 

Lifebuoy Soap radio ads from the '30s were famous for the "B.O." foghorn, so the shift in personal hygeine was definitely taking place by 1930. I would suspect that air conditioned trains also helped as people weren't sweating as much in transit.

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Posted by Penny Trains on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 9:04 PM

Flintlock76
I watched a documentary a few years ago about the Baths of Caracalla that described exactly that, even showed the ruins of the same.

Probably the one I'm thinking of where they built a small replica?  I remember they had hot coals under the floor in the one I saw.  Probably a Nova episode btw.

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 8:54 PM

Those times were still having water systems in many places that were not really potable.  There were many locations that the best drink was c2h5oh.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 8:22 PM

Caldariums and hypocausts.  Right, I watched a documentary a few years ago about the Baths of Caracalla that described exactly that, even showed the ruins of the same.  

I was sure the Romans didn't have hot water from a tap, but if they had cold water from a tap, by whatever means, that wouldn't surprise me.  

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Posted by Overmod on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 6:04 PM

Flintlock76
I'm not so sure about that.

Look up 'caldarium' and you will be.

But that's hot and cold bath water (see 'hypocausts' to see how the hot water got that way).  That's not hot and cold taps.  For that you require pressure.  The Romans had all the technology (see inverted siphons) to build such a system, gravity-pressurized and sealed with tasty lead, but to my knowledge didn't use it for hot potable water...

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 4:58 PM

The Romans had public baths all right, and quite sophisticated ones.  Hot running water?  I'm not so sure about that.  Running water in the wealthier homes, I believe so.  Everyone else went to public fountains for water, there was plenty of those, and it was good  water as well.  

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Posted by 54light15 on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 2:43 PM

Ddin't the Romans have hot running water and public baths? Wasn't Penn Station's concourse based on the Roman baths at Caracalla? (sp) Also, regarding flush toilets- they were invented by one Thomas Crapper in England. Today at Kings Cross station in London there is a pub called the Parcel Yard. It's a fairly new place. The toilets are reproductions from way back when and are labelled for Thomas Crapper. His invention along with indoor plumbing in general had a good effect on life expectency back then.  

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Posted by Ulrich on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 2:09 PM

Personal hygiene is a relatively recent phenomenon. 100+ years ago people didn't bathe daily, brush their teeth, and deodorant and other hygiene products were simply not available. The good old days.. bad teeth and horrible BO.. on trains and everywhere else. 

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Posted by daveklepper on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 11:48 AM

NKP:  I posted this some years ago regarding Cleveland's Oak Room.  !957 - !967, work-place was Bolt Beranek and Newman's Cambridge, MA office.  Had jobs and a few conventions in St. Louiis, Indianapolis, Dayton, Cincinnati, Columbus.  Return trip was usually coach to Cleveland, then a sleeper on the New England States to Boston.  Regular was dinner between trains in the Oak Room with Walter Holtkamp (Senior), Cleveland organ builder, third generation.  (His grandson, the fifth generation, Chris Holtkamp, runs the still-successful company today.)  We exchnanged lots of ideas.  One evening was devoted to Corpus Christe R. C. Church near Col. U., with how the choir hears the organ and how both are in balance for the congregation were worked out.  Living in NY 1970 - 1996, once a month "Music Before 1800" concerts, Louise Basbas director, were a must for me at that church.  They are still going strong.  Good music and good food and beautiful surroundings go well together.

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Posted by rcdrye on Tuesday, January 28, 2020 9:30 AM

Plush was quite common in ordinary coaches by 1910, and the fabrics used were incredibly tough.  On streetcars rattan was preferred by most companies, until women started getting their stockings caught. 

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Posted by blue streak 1 on Monday, January 27, 2020 7:44 PM

The 1890s RR growth was very fast.  I can imagine that many secondary routes had pre and just post civil cars in use.  Plush probably only the very 1st class trains.

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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, January 27, 2020 7:41 PM

wjstix

 

 
divebardave
So getting on a wooded un-airconditioned coach car in farm country with wood benches and a bucket for a toilet. like Vermont or Nebraska must have been hell with the smoking and people who only bathed once a month in addition to layers and layers of clothing.

 

Not sure where you're getting this from. In 1910 passenger car seats were generally covered in plush, some might have wicker (though I think that was more common in streetcars). In 1910 flush toilets were over a half-century old, and railroad cars had restrooms not that different from what we'd see now. The toilets did flush down onto the tracks, hence the "passengers will please refrain from flushing toilets while the train is standing in the station" warning.

Daily washing was perhaps more common than daily bathing - some Victorian doctors warned that bathing was bad for you, plus many urban people didn't have access to bathtubs - but the idea that everyone X number of years back was so much dirtier than today is really nonsense. People haven't changed for thousands of years, what bothers us now bothered people in the past.

 

In the 1850's, passenger seats were becoming much more sophisticated than wood benches. I do not have my (reproduced) copy of an 1852 Guide here, but at least one advertisement for seats showed an upholstered seat that had springs. As I recall, the seat was supposed to prevent your feeling that your bones had been beaten in a bag.

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Posted by Deggesty on Monday, January 27, 2020 4:21 PM

wjstix

 

 
divebardave
So getting on a wooded un-airconditioned coach car in farm country with wood benches and a bucket for a toilet. like Vermont or Nebraska must have been hell with the smoking and people who only bathed once a month in addition to layers and layers of clothing.

 

Not sure where you're getting this from. In 1910 passenger car seats were generally covered in plush, some might have wicker (though I think that was more common in streetcars). In 1910 flush toilets were over a half-century old, and railroad cars had restrooms not that different from what we'd see now. The toilets did flush down onto the tracks, hence the "passengers will please refrain from flushing toilets while the train is standing in the station" warning.

Daily washing was perhaps more common than daily bathing - some Victorian doctors warned that bathing was bad for you, plus many urban people didn't have access to bathtubs - but the idea that everyone X number of years back was so much dirtier than today is really nonsense. People haven't changed for thousands of years, what bothers us now bothered people in the past.

 

Thumbs Up

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Posted by wjstix on Monday, January 27, 2020 3:45 PM

divebardave
So getting on a wooded un-airconditioned coach car in farm country with wood benches and a bucket for a toilet. like Vermont or Nebraska must have been hell with the smoking and people who only bathed once a month in addition to layers and layers of clothing.

Not sure where you're getting this from. In 1910 passenger car seats were generally covered in plush, some might have wicker (though I think that was more common in streetcars). In 1910 flush toilets were over a half-century old, and railroad cars had restrooms not that different from what we'd see now. The toilets did flush down onto the tracks, hence the "passengers will please refrain from flushing toilets while the train is standing in the station" warning.

Daily washing was perhaps more common than daily bathing - some Victorian doctors warned that bathing was bad for you, plus many urban people didn't have access to bathtubs - but the idea that everyone X number of years back was so much dirtier than today is really nonsense. People haven't changed for thousands of years, what bothers us now bothered people in the past.

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Posted by Overmod on Monday, January 20, 2020 9:26 PM

Until Becky fixes the link: she's referring to Cinderella's Royal Table at the Magic Kingdom

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Posted by Penny Trains on Monday, January 20, 2020 7:54 PM

Luckily, you still can.  https://executivecaterers.com/venue/the-oak-room/

Not Fred Harvey though I'm sure the food is still quite spectacular.

My favorite restaurant in the world is this one right here:

 

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Posted by NKP guy on Sunday, January 19, 2020 8:43 PM

   Fred Harvey believed in giving his customers their money's worth, but only their money's worth.  His last words are reputed to have been "Slice the ham thinner."

   That being said, Fred Harvey's English Oak Room in the Cleveland Union Terminal was, hands down, the finest restaurant in which I have ever dined.  

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Posted by Deggesty on Sunday, January 19, 2020 8:10 PM

In 1973, my wife, her threee childrem, and I went to Albuquerque and back. Going from Chicago to Albuquerque, the dining car steward was an old hand who knew what to do, what not to do--and what he could do. Later, I wished I had asked him if we could eat in the Turquoise Room. While we were at table for dinner, he took a picture of the five of us.  Going back to Chicago, the steward obviously was new, and knew only what was required and what was forbidden.

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Posted by Flintlock76 on Sunday, January 19, 2020 7:14 PM

I think I read somewhere the Harvey House organization got so sophisticated they had printed menus on the trains, passengers would make their selections and give them to the conductor.  The conductor handed them off at the next station to the telelgrapher who'd relay the menu selections down the line to the next station with a Harvey House.  When the train pulled in the meals were waiting. 

Eventually Harvey House moved on to the Santa Fe trains themselves.  "Great Fred Harvey meals!" it used to say in the Santa Fe ads.

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