January 13, 2012

"Let Bee Fly Out of Car Window."

P1040474

Advice from an old newspaper. I'll leave it to you to guess how old this is.

ADDED: More clues on this page:

P1040492

72 comments:

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

Not that I'm a typography expert, but that type style looks old to me, like something from the 50s.

deborah said...

Meta!

1950s?

Temujin said...

Last week's NY Times? Right next to the latest study on chocolate and diet.

chuck said...

1920's?

David said...

Trackless street cars?

Calling the car a machine?

Met wearing hats? (Not baseball caps.)

Sometime before 1960, probably the 1920's.

Sorun said...

I'll guess 1925.

Toshstu said...

I just read a great article in my local paper on how to organize a linen closet.

Anonymous said...

I want to read the story above about, from the looks of it, a guy who invented his own contraption to drive his car without legs.

No latter than the 1950's, IMO. He'd be arrested today.

Toshstu said...

The article is from the early 1920's.

Eileen said...

The exact words of the article immediately to its right show up in at least three newspapers from 1927.

Ain't the internet great?

Kurt said...

I would guess the the late 1930s. It doesn't look quite old enough to be from the 20s, and this reference to trackless street cars suggests that while they were first deployed in Philadelphia starting in the 20s, their progress elsewhere was slowed by World War II.

Whatever the date, it is still good advice. I was once the last of three cars rear-ended at a stoplight because the driver in the car three cars back was swatting at a bee and ended up lurching forward.

Whatever the date, I would

granmary said...

1915?

Dose of Sanity said...

It's post 1925, via the note about the invention of the balloon tire.

It's interesting to note the use of the word highway on the article on the left...prior to highways as we know them.

John Hawks said...

There's a great character-establishing scene in Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy that is precisely this scenario: the contrast between those who swat away the bee in the car versus the cool character who waits for the precise moment to unroll the window.

Toshstu said...

Someone failed to read the article.

http://bangordailynews.com/2011/09/27/news/bangor/bee-blamed-for-hampden-crash/

wv: eypokywa. Summer camp for the soon-to-be-blind

Rockport Conservative said...

I recognize real lead type when I see it. I see it here. Could have been as late as the 70's at the newspaper I worked for, they switched to computers in 1976.

syd B. said...

The story above the bee article refers to some guy named, Horace S. Gates. Now, I'm betting that nobody had named their son "Horace" since the turn of the century and if they did, I hope the kid takes a rad hose to his parents when he's old enough. So, I'm thinking that the bee story occured in the early 1920's and Horace went on to be a politician.

Wince said...

There is some disagreement as to the meaning of the idiom "bee in your bonnet".

That said, the 1980s?

Not to put too fine a point on it
Say I'm the only bee in your bonnet
Make a little...


Birdhouse In Your Soul

David said...

Syd, my grandfather, born in 1885, was Clarence.

It's been a long time since I met a Clarence.

edutcher said...

The phrase, "classic dumbbell", sounds like something my father would say, so I'll go late 40s or 50s. I'd think an article like that would be used when the number of cars had risen beyond the Depression.

Although the typeset looks more 30s.

Spread Eagle said...

The Lodi Sentinel - Oct 8, 1927

Bob_R said...

Clarence Thomas, Carter, Clemons...Horace Silver (gotta admit that one is rare)

Mark O said...

Has to be late '40's to '50's when those little venting windows could be turned to funnel air and bees into the driver of the car. Before A/C.

My dad and his brothers had a trucking company. One of their drivers took to waving at a bee that had been funneled in and flipped the truck over.

David said...

Horace Gates could have been a descendant of Revolutionary War general Horatio Gates. Gates was with Washington near Pittsburgh as a young man. He was both a subordinate and rival of Washington but a good general in his own right. His reputation suffered from a defeat near Camden, SC later in the war and a supposed cabal to replace Washington as commander in chief earlier in the war.

Horatio Gates covered himself with honor after the war when he sold his plantation and freed his slaves. The great Washington and the great Jefferson never could bring themselves to do that.

kimsch said...

1926 the year Rudolph Valentino died.

DADvocate said...

Not swiping at bees is good advice. My father once let a student drive my sister to work using my dad's car. On the way back, the student was trying to kill a bee against the windshield, and hit a parked car, totaling my dad's car. The bee survived.

edutcher said...

Pola Negri?

Babe Ruth in vaudeville?

Definitely the 20s.

I'll take Kimsch's word on the year.

Anonymous said...

1918

Peano said...

1926

HUSTON SOUTHARD, b. October 18, 1851, Vermillion County, Indiana; d. August 20, 1926, Near Dana, Indiana.

Known Unknown said...

Huston Southard died August 20, 1926 in Dana, Indiana.

Valentino died August 23, 1926.

Babe Ruth and the Yankees lost the 1926 World Series in seven games to the St. Louis Cardinals.

How long did it take news to travel in the 20s?

Cedarford said...

pretty simple, article is from Aug 25th or 26th, in 1926.
Front page comments on dress Pola Negri wore to Valentino's Aug 24th funeral in Manhattan.

traditionalguy said...

Before internet, television, air conditioning and deodorants. Thank God for free markets and capitalism.

Was Charles Lindbergh in the air that day?

traditionalguy said...

I looked it up. Lindbergh took his non-stop trip from New York to Paris on may 20, 1927. He was accompanied by a fly that helped keep him awake...at least it helped Jimmy Cooper.

Triangle Man said...

Jimmy Stewart?

syd B. said...

traditionalguy said...

Was Charles Lindbergh in the air that day?

Only if he farted.

Pettifogger said...

Valentino dies in 1926. Ma Ferguson was in office from 1925-27. And Babe Ruth played in the World Series from 1926-28. So I say 1926.

Wally Kalbacken said...

Late 1920's. 1928 +/- 2.5 years.

RonF said...

O.K. This is a threadjack. In the news yesterday:

From the Wisconsin State Journal


An extensive court-ordered review of signatures submitted to recall Gov. Scott Walker and five others will take longer than the planned 60 days and require the state to invest $100,000 in new software, the head of the state board charged with that process said Thursday.

Government Accountability Board Director Kevin Kennedy said it was not clear exactly how much longer the review will take under the more stringent verification process ordered by a judge last week.

With a 60-day review and a primary _ assuming no other delays caused by lawsuits or other action _ the general election would not have taken place until late May. A longer review process could push an election into June or later.

traditionalguy said...

Yeah, Jimmy Stewart. I got Gary Cooper mixed up with the one of a kind Jimmy Stewart.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Pola Negri and Valentino. Has to be the late 20's

Writ Small said...

"LET BEE FLY OUT OF CAR WINDOW.

Dangerous Move to Swipe at Little Insect.

. . . Telling people not to be afraid of bees is futile advice, for most persons can't help regarding bees as unwelcome guests. "


We're still talking about bees and not trolls, right?

Unknown said...

Yes, let it fly out the window, if one is in California. Swiping at a bee might now constitute "distracted driving" now a crime there.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/CHP-to-Crack-Down-on-Distracted-Drivers-136407568.html

I'm Full of Soup said...

Is this post related to the fact today is Friday the 13th?

Bob_R said...

Early Pola Negri still pictures are smokin'!

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Still good advice. My dad and I came across a chagrined motorist once upon a time who had just rolled his VW bus trying to swat a bee. How he remained uninjured I can't explain.

In other news, I once had a bee splatter against my side mirror, then one of the bee-pieces came through my open window and stung me, proving the universe is essentially unfair.

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Huston Southard

Birthdate: October 18, 1851
Birthplace: Helt, Vermillion, Indiana, USA
Death: Died August 20, 1926 in Dana, Vermillion, Indiana, USA

Toad Trend said...

Based on the blurb talking about the advent of ballon tires (article fragment on the right) I'm guessing its from the 1920's.

My brother was hit and stung by a bee at highway speed (60mph) - the bee hit him right near the bow of his glasses and got stuck there - and stung him. It happened fast. I was driving, it was summer with the windows open.

I've been stung many times while riding the motorcycle - many times there isn't much you can do about it especially if you are in traffic and need to maintain control.

Christopher in MA said...

"Early Pola Negri pictures are smokin'!"

Yes, they are. She was a tempestuous diva in real life, but a luscious candybox of a woman to look at. Check out more pix at http://silentladies.com/PNegri.html

Tyrone Slothrop said...

Christopher in MA said...

"Early Pola Negri pictures are smokin'!"


De gustibus non disputandum est.

Mark O said...

Soon it will be a crime to live in California.

MadisonMan said...

Interesting that they published wills!

My Dad was alive when that paper's edition was published, but my Mom wasn't. Now, my Dad is alive, but my Mom isn't. Some things never change?

LordSomber said...

Brings to mind an old Far Side cartoon:

http://cdn.pimpmyspace.org/media/pms/c/t8/8z/zr/ide_b.jpg

Anonymous said...

Let bee be finale of seem.

Freeman Hunt said...

If my dad found a fly in the house, he would catch it in his hand and throw it hard on the floor to kill it.

rcocean said...

"Before internet, television, air conditioning and deodorants. Thank God for free markets and capitalism."

They had deodorants in the 1920s (lol). As for TV, air conditioning, and the internet**, they have those in communist China and socialist Sweden, so I guess the "free market" isn't responsible.

** actually invented by the US government.

Christopher in MA said...

"De gustibus non disputandum est."

True, Tyrone, so true. For example, I must be about the only hetero male in the Western world who finds Nicole Kidman, Charlize Theron and Angelina Jolie to be as appealing as a catch of dead trout.

Chuck66 said...

True story....a few years ago, just as a small private plane was about to land, it started moving around very erractly, and then crashed. Turns out there was a bee in the cab and the pilot was trying to swat it before he could get stung.

JackOfVA said...

Another book reference is Eric Frank Russell's science fiction novel "Wasp."

When the protagonist is recruited to be a saboteur on a planet of the Sirian empire, the ability of a single man to affect the outcome of an interstellar war is illustrated by a newspaper article in which a trifling insect - a wasp - results in an automobile accident killing four men.

caseym54 said...

Eric Frank Russel wrote a classic SF novel based on this concept. "Wasp"

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

David said...
Syd, my grandfather, born in 1885, was Clarence.

It's been a long time since I met a Clarence.


My dad was a Clarence, born in 1924. He hated that name.

mishu said...

The second picture shows a blurb about Babe Ruth doing vaudeville after the World Series. I found this link to auction site featuring a card advertising Babe Ruth's vaudeville show in 1921. So I'm guessing 1921.

Babe Ruth Vaudeville

NorthOfTheOneOhOne said...

Oh, and I'm betting it's 1920's. based on the article written by "J. Bird". They stopped doing that sort of stuff by the 1930's.

Ian Watson said...

I had a bee in my car once. I'm rather allergic to them (or so I claim... I just irrationally freak out). Driving with my girlfriend, wearing mesh shorts. I just woke up, coming back from starbucks. I had the window down, the bee flew in and landed on my crotch. I flipped out. It gets stuck in my shorts. At the stop light, which is now green, i am flailing around. Girlfriend is laughing hysterically. So are the old women on the bench in front of starbucks. I tear off my shorts, throw them out the window, speed away. Whatever, says i, they are my brother's shorts anyway.

Well, the bee wasn't in the shorts. He crawls over my feet five minutes later. I freak out again. Pull over, flailing around. I get out, now in my boxers. Girlfriend, and others walking around, laughing hysterically.

I get home, girlfriend is in tears. I realize that my wallet was in the mesh shorts.

I hate bees. (Sorry for stunted language, typing on phone)

Chip S. said...

They stopped doing that sort of stuff by the 1930's.

What stuff--not taking their "People" news items too seriously? More's the pity.

Bob Loblaw said...

Yes, let it fly out the window, if one is in California. Swiping at a bee might now constitute "distracted driving" now a crime there.

Groan. The voters of my state are idiots.

Bob Loblaw said...

"Periling"? My dictionary lists that usage as "archaic". It got me to wondering how old something to be before it's archaic. 1926 seems a bit too recent. When I think "archaic" I'm thinking, you know, Chaucer or Shakespear, not Chandler or Faulkner.

LordSomber said...

I almost wrecked, not from a bee, but having just walked through a fire ant nest before hopping in the car.

And yes, I was wearing shorts.

Jose_K said...

Follow up on cocodeiles and bungee
http://www.reuters.com/video/2012/01/13/ministers-leap-of-faith?videoId=228503832

chuck said...

What stuff

Warblings by Mrs. J. Bird. Get it?

Big Mike said...

Rudolph Valentino's funeral was in August 1926 (thank you, Wikipedia) and Pola Negri retired (temporarily) from films in 1928 (also from Wikipedia). Paper is from sometime in September 1926 to late 1927.

gadfly said...

October 28, 1927. Roadless Automobiles

technologist said...

10/8/27