Category Archives: Commentary

The Simplicity Of The First Federal Income Tax

The First Income Tax Form Of 1913 And How Much The IRS Collected

click to enlarge

It was 100 years ago that the 1040 individual tax form many Americans dread filling out was introduced.

One thing is for sure, it was a lot simpler to file taxes in 1914 than today.

Pictured above is the 1913 1040 tax form which was due March 1, 1914.

With only three short pages to complete and one page of instructions, for most people who had to file, the average time to complete their taxes would take about an hour.

Had to file is an important term here, because the first $2,500 or $3,333.33 of income in 1913 for single and married couples respectively, was exempt. After 1914 the rate was $3,000 and $4,000 respectively. Considering very few Americans made more than $1,000 per year in income, the vast majority of Americans were exempt from paying any tax.

According to the Department of Labor in 1913, the average family household income was $827. Continue reading →

Graffiti As Vandalism, Not Art

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Museum of The City Of New York Graffiti Exhibition Doesn’t Show What The Majority Of Graffiti Is – Unintelligible Scrawls By Vandals

I caught the newest exhibit at The Museum of the City of New York entitled “City as Canvas,” which glorifies the practitioners of graffiti and their “work” during the 1970’s and 1980’s in New York City.

For anyone who thinks that graffiti is something to be celebrated in a retrospective by an exhibition at an important cultural institution, here is some evidence to contradict that viewpoint.

Iouri Podladtchikov, Olympic half-pipe king visits the lower east side with typical graffiti defacing a grand old building. photo – Casey Kelbaugh for the New York Times

A typical display of current graffiti “art” as seen in this building covered by spray paint on the lower east side really is a better representation of the so called graffiti artist. It pains me to see old handcrafted stone buildings covered with paint. The beautiful Queensboro Bridge girders and stonework are always being cleaned and re-painted due to these miscreants who attack our public property with their spray cans, markers and etching knives.

Subway graffiti photo taken Feb 8, 1982

The onslaught of graffiti began in earnest in the subway system in the 1970’s where riding a train was a demoralizing prospect. Almost every single car was covered in dripping unintelligible paint and marker scrawls, which obliterated any blank spaces. Continue reading →

Book Review – Yorkville Twins

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Twins Grow Up In An Exciting, Post-WWII New York City

If there were more books like Yorkville Twins we would have a clearer picture and better understanding of what it was like for the everyday existence of ordinary people living in Manhattan in post-war New York City. Twins Joseph G. Gindele and John F. Gindele, weave funny, touching and poignant stories of growing up in Yorkville on the upper east side of Manhattan from 1944-1962 with their three siblings and immigrant parents.

Unlike many New York memoirs written by famous or infamous personages who lay their memories of privileged upbringings or Dickensian struggles in print, the Gindele’s recount the daily experiences of middle class family life in a New York that has now largely vanished. This is the New York of cobblestone paved streets where the milkman and the iceman made deliveries with horse drawn wagons. Pushcarts sold vegetables and kids played with erector and chemistry sets and took the time to cut out the backs of cereal boxes and redeem them in the mail for prizes. Continue reading →

Vanishing America: An Old Fashioned Style Candy Store – Ojai, CA

Kingston’s Candy Company: A Candy Trip Down Memory Lane

If you are ever near Ojai, about 85 miles north of Los Angeles, Kingston’s Candy Co. is worth a visit, even if you don’t crave sweets.

When I first visited Ojai, California around five years ago I kept wanting to pronounce Ojai, “O.J.” as in O.J. Simpson. It is pronounced Oh Hi.

The reason for my initial visit to Ojai was Bart’s Books, a unique used book store that is mostly outdoors. Walking along East Ojai Avenue, the main street of Ojai’s small downtown area with its quaint shops and restaurants, you will eventually stumble upon Kingston’s Candy Co..

Walking into Kingston’s you will discover an unpretentious, real candy store, the kind that used to flourish in every neighborhood in every metropolitan city until the 1960’s.

The prices are about on par with supermarkets for the regular candy such as M&M’s, Kit Kat’s, Milky Way’s, and other standard fare. What makes Kingston’s unique is that it has a lot of older candy brands that were popular years ago and you thought might have vanished forever. Confections like Sugar Daddy, Whatchamacallit’s, Coconut Alice’s, Good n’ Plenty, Teaberry, Glee, Hubba Bubba and Gold Mine Chewing Gum, and dozens of other candy’s, gums and sugar based sweets line the small shop. Continue reading →

25 Incredible Real Names

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Crook Klutz (1913-1979) and 24 Other “Unique” American Names

Uncle Fester (Jackie Coogan)

A useful tool for genealogists, the Social Security Death Index (SSDI) contains over 92 million death records for individuals with United States Social Security numbers. There are many portals to give you access to the list. On some web portals for the SSDI you can enter just the first name, which can yield interesting results.

Either their parents thought they were being funny or in some cases they were just cruel. Maybe the person had their name legally changed. Who knows.

Besides Crook Klutz, the ones that stood out in no particular order:

24. Dummy Boy 1896-1969 (Not a name you’d want to call out in public.)

23. Hitler Johnson 1933-1986 (Nice. Definitely a way to distinguish yourself from the other Johnson’s in your town.)

22. Uncle Caves 1911-1977

21. Strange Amos 1884-1966 (How did the parents know?)

20. Fatty Claw 1884-1973

19. Lurch Williams 1906-1979 (The only person ever named Lurch.)

18. Danger Dangervil 1943-2005

17. Weird Adkins 1917-1964

16. Shitley J. Metcalf 1949-2012 (No way.)

15. Poison Repp 1913-1964

14. Phony Brooks 1903-1966 (Did Phony have a hard time making friends?)

13. Murder Williams 1926-1983

12. Fester King 1896-1971 [also another Fester King 1915-1974, Senior and Junior perhaps?] (Everyone should have an Uncle Fester.)

11. Flipper Butts 1919-1975 (Perfect name for the adult entertainment industry.)

10. Moron Bobo 1896-1974 (The last name alone would probably lead to a difficult life, adding the first insures it.)

9. Jack Ass 1958-2003 (Could have had a franchise on that name.)

8. Hernia Dalton 1906-1976 (Ow.)

7. Very Bland 1979-1999

6. Big Wife 1888-1982

5. Funny Smith 1919-1986 (Was he? Or is “Funny” a she?)

4. Zoo Parks 1897-1981

3. Will Moron Read 1927-1989 (I don’t know. How did he do in school?)

2. Pimp Freeman 1893-1983 (That is kind of cool in a weird way.)

1. Jesus Christ 1941-2007. (Guess you missed him. He was here. I’ve always wondered if Jesus were to return would anyone recognize him? Apparently not.)

The Greatest TV Game Show Ever

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What’s My Line 1950 – 1967

A few years ago my Tivo was tuned into the Game Show Network weeknights at 3:00 a.m., taping every episode of the greatest TV game show ever made, What’s My Line.

Let me state it was not just a great game show, but one of the best television shows ever.

Unfortunately the series is not being broadcast now, but many segments of the show are available on Youtube.

To describe the brilliance of the show better than I ever could, we will refer to The Complete Directory to Prime Time Network TV Shows 1948 – Present by Tim Brooks and Earle Marsh (Ballantine 1988), an indispensable television reference book.

What’s My Line was the longest-running game show in the history of prime-time network television. It ran for 18 seasons, on alternate weeks from February to September 1950, then every Sunday at 10:30 p.m. for the next 17 years. The format was exceedingly simple. Contestants were asked simple yes-or-no questions by the panel members, who tried to determine what interesting or unusual occupation the contestant had. Each time the contestant could answer no to a question, he got $5, and a total of 10 no’s ended the game. The panel was forced to don blindfolds for the “mystery guest,” a celebrity who tried to avoid identification by disguising his voice.

That little game, by itself, hardly warranted an 18-year run, when other panel shows of the early 1950’s came and went every month. But What’s My Line was something special, both for the witty and engaging panel, and for a certain élan which few other shows ever captured. There were no flashy celebrities-of-the-moment or empty-headed pretty faces on this panel; they were obviously very intelligent people all, out to have some genteel fun with an amusing parlor game. Like (moderator) John Daly with his bow tie and perfect manners, it reeked of urbanity [“that’s three down and seven to go, Mr. Cerf?”]

The panelists who created this special atmosphere were an elite group. Continue reading →

The Difficulties Of The Used Book Store Business

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Thinking Of Opening A Used Bookstore? “Don’t Do It!” Advises Bookseller Greg Gibson

Interior of Iliad Bookshop North Hollywood California

Greg Gibson, the owner of the Ten Pound Island Book Company wrote about his nearly 40 year odyssey in the world of second hand books and used book stores in an excellent article called “Don’t Do It!” published here. You don’t have to be interested in collecting or the book business to enjoy this very well written story.

Many people who love books, daydream about setting up a second hand book shop. Not the paperback emporiums or remainder stores that dot many towns throughout the country, but a real general used book store where when you walk in there is an aroma of old books and the possibility that a customer will find a long sought after treasure.

Running a used book store is a profession that will not make you rich and runs counter-intuitive to the notion that publishing is in a perpetual state of decline and printed books are dying.

Used bookstores that keep regular hours that are open to the public are called open shops. Where there were literally thousands of open shops in the United States twenty years ago, there are about 1,000 in existence today, victims of a combination of an aging populace; both proprietors and collectors/readers, changing technology and rising rents.

Fewer people have the opportunity to apprentice in a used book store and get the experience necessary to open their own book business. Barely making enough money to survive also discourages many young people from considering books as a career. This is why it is mostly retirees who will entertain the book store notion as a career. The internet has changed the pricing structure for used books and many people who deal in used books do so via mail order through the internet or by eBay without a thorough knowledge of books.

While not completely a warning against going into the book business, the article does describe the lessons Gibson took many years to learn. If you still have dreams of running a used book store, you can get some valuable advice from Gibson before you start on your venture.

Prophetic Words About Lying Politicians From T. De Witt Talmage

Mutilating The Main Branch Of The New York Public Library

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Who Cares That New York’s Landmark Library Is About To Be Marred As Part Of A Sweetheart Land Grab Deal?

Who cares? Apparently less than 100 people.

That is about the number of protesters who showed up on Wednesday, May 8 to try and bring about public awareness of the decision by the trustees of the New York Public Library to catastrophically alter one of New York’s greatest buildings, the main branch of The New York Public Library at Fifth Avenue between 40th and 42nd street.

As the stoic group held up signs to the passing throng on Fifth Avenue, some pedestrians slowed or took photos, many just walked by without notice.

The group was protesting the closed door deal that will sell off the land and buildings of two libraries, the Mid-Manhattan branch at 40th Street and Fifth Avenue and the Science, Industry and Business Library at 34th Street and Madison Avenue. Their operations would be condensed and the main library would be remodeled into a circulating library in addition to being a research library. The main library would then store 3.5 million books off-site in New Jersey. This defeats the entire purpose of the building: to be a first-class, on-site repository of research materials critical to tens of thousands of patrons.

The small group of protesters was comprised of mostly older people. It is true that this was a weekday afternoon, but there were maybe ten people under the age of 40 in attendance and one or two in their teens. Continue reading →

Stuff Nobody Cares About

A not so random collection of observations about things you should care about

Category Archives: Commentary

The Simplicity Of The First Federal Income Tax

The First Income Tax Form Of 1913 And How Much The IRS Collected

Graffiti As Vandalism, Not Art

Book Review – Yorkville Twins

Vanishing America: An Old Fashioned Style Candy Store – Ojai, CA

Kingston’s Candy Company: A Candy Trip Down Memory Lane

25 Incredible Real Names

The Greatest TV Game Show Ever

The Difficulties Of The Used Book Store Business

Prophetic Words About Lying Politicians From T. De Witt Talmage

LIES: WHITE AND BLACK.

Mutilating The Main Branch Of The New York Public Library

Mia Kovacs And Her Bible