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

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.

Posture Queen And The Creation Of The World War II Pin-Up Girl

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Stand Up Straight Please, This Is A Publicity Stunt

Lillian McKevitt

New York, NY – Miss Lillian McKevitt, of Jackson Heights, New York is chosen as “Posture Queen” from among forty beautiful Walter Thornton models who demonstrated exercises to provide good posture in celebration of Good Posture Week (May 4-11), has her posture matched by Mr. Thornton with that of Sgt. Lester Hare of the military police of the Canadian army, who attended the matinee performance on the penthouse terrace of the Mayflower Hotel.  –  April 27, 1942: Acme News Photograph

By whom Lillian McKevitt was chosen Posture Queen is not noted in the news photo caption.

The interesting story here is about the modeling agency Lillian came from, The Walter Thornton Modeling Agency which began its business in 1931.

A June 27, 1948 Associated Press article describes how Walter Thornton created the World War II “Pin-Up Girl.”  Strangely this is based only on Walter Thornton’s assertion.

The story goes, “while in the service, Thornton pinned his girlfriend’s picture to the canvas wall of his tent. The pin put a hole in the tent and the Sergeant put Thornton on K.P. (Kitchen Punishment duty).  The new soldiers however lived in lush barracks and could pin up pictures of pretty girls without punching a hole in the wall. So one day in 1940, Thornton dug out about 5,000 photos of girls from his modeling agency and sent them to Fort Dix, NJ. The idea was a winner and the World War II pin-up girl was born.”

Allegedly.

Thornton also put on a hair-pulling match in 1940 at Palisades Amusement Park which we previously profiled here.

Time Magazine noted in 1954, “He (Thornton) also has shown a talent for getting publicity for Walter Thornton.” Continue reading →

Old New York In Photos #31 – Garbage Strike 1911

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The Garbage Strike of 1911

boys chase garbage carts Nov 13 1911

This photograph shows First Avenue and 50th street looking north. A policeman is running after boys who were harassing and chasing a garbage truck (to the left of the trolley) driven by a strike-breaker (now what would be termed a scab) in November 1911.

On November 8, 1911 New York City’s garbage collector’s went on strike demanding better working conditions. The ashcart men did not like working at night when seeing dangerous items deposited in the trash and obstacles on the street was difficult, so they wanted to work only during the daylight hours when it was warmer and safer. Another complaint the union lodged was having only one man to lift trash cans that sometimes weighed over 200 pounds.

City officials were irate and refused to give in. Earlier in July during a smaller garbage strike, Mayor William Jay Gaynor warned that every worker who did not report to work would be fired. Continue reading →

Babe Ruth’s Funeral

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Paying Respects To Babe Ruth

New York says goodbye to Babe Ruth at Yankee Stadium August 17-18, 1948.

Babe Ruth funeral Yankee Stadium 8 18 48

Sixty five years ago today, when Babe Ruth died of cancer at the age of 53 on Monday, August 16, 1948, New Yorker’s and the baseball world mourned as it never had before.

As lines stretched into the night on August 17, 1948 for a last look at the Babe lying in state in the rotunda at Yankee Stadium, the stream of fans never let up. It was estimated that 50,000 fans on August 17th and 55,000 on the 18th filed past the open coffin. Among the mourners at the stadium were baseball executives Dan Topping, owner of the Yankees, Will Harridge, president of the American League, Commissioner, Happy Chandler and former players Hank Greenberg and Leo Durocher.

Babe Ruth funeral fans line up 8 17 1948

 

They filed by at the rate of 100 people per minute. People waited all night. To see this…

Babe Ruth Lies in state 8 18.1948

Some were given more than a moment to mourn.

In this photograph above, Frankie Haggerty, 10, of Danvers, MA wipes away a tear as he looks upon Babe Ruth lying in his casket at Yankee Stadium. When Ruth was too ill to attend the funeral of one of his mentors, Brother Gilbert, he gave Frankie permission to attend as his personal representative.

One father said, “I wanted my boy to come see this so he could always say he had seen the Babe in person.”

Another elderly white haired visitor lifted his grandson for a look into Ruth’s casket. “Take a good look sonny,” he said. “You’ll never see another man like him.”

Eleven-year-old Peter Carter said, “I feel very sad. Every night I pray the Babe’s soul will go to heaven.”

A requiem mass and funeral for the Babe was held at St. Patrick’s Cathedral on August 19, 1948.

6,000 mourners bowed their heads as Cardinal Spellman made a special prayer at the end of the solemn 1 hour service. 75,000 people waited outside the Cathedral in the pouring rain.

What was unexpected was that after the funeral over 100,000 people lined the route in silence from Manhattan to Westchester as the Babe was driven to his final resting place at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Mt. Pleasant, NY.

At the cemetery another 6,000 people were there to see the Babe off.  Ruth was put into a receiving vault until the family selected a site for burial.

Millions of people from around the country all said the same thing that you always hear after someone famous passes away, “he will never be forgotten.”

This time they were right.

Prophetic Words About Lying Politicians From T. De Witt Talmage

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Our 21st Century Dysfunctional Politicians Accurately Described

DeWitt TalmageHe described our lying politicians better than anyone today could have. And he did it 140 years ago.

T. De Witt Talmage (1832-1902) was a sanctimonious Brooklyn preacher who attained a huge following in the 19th century as an orator and prolific author. Overflow crowds attended his Sunday sermons at The Brooklyn Tabernacle.

Talamge's Brooklyn Tabernacle courtesy New York Public Library

Brooklyn Tabernacle

 

 

 

While many people were quite enthralled by Talmage, there were just as many critics who called him a “pulpit clown” and a “mountebank.”

As would be expected from any of the crusading Victorian holy rollers, Talmage railed against vice and crime in his writings and firebrand speeches. His verse contains the typical road to ruin warnings that make reading his books unbearable today. However, Talmage did manage to string together some words that still ring true. Especially about lying.

If you didn’t know any better, you would swear that Talmage is describing our modern day politicians. This short passage is from 1872.

LIES: WHITE AND BLACK.

Abominations of modern Society Talmage

There are ten thousand ways of telling a lie. A man’s entire life may be a falsehood, while with his lips he may not once directly falsify. There are those who state what is positively untrue, but afterwards say, “may be,” softly. These departures from the truth are called “white lies;” but there is really no such thing as a white lie. Continue reading →

Art Donovan, A True Character and Football Great Dies At 89

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Baltimore Colts Tackle, Football Hall of Famer, Art Donovan Passes Away

On Sunday, August 4, 2013 Art Donovan, one of the greatest tackles to ever play in the NFL died at the age of 89 of a respiratory ailment at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium, MD.

The New York Times obituary summarizes Donovan’s interesting life appropriately. I’ll just say that professional athletes like Donovan are a rare breed today; talented, honest, humble and funny.

I remember the many classic Miller Lite beer commercials that Art Donovan appeared in. Unfortunately none are currently available for viewing.

This video clip below from 1988 is a classic. Art Donovan is promoting the paperback release of his autobiography “Fatso” on Late Night with David Letterman.

Letterman brings up the fact that when Donovan was on the show previously promoting the hardcover release of the book, Donovan admitted he had not read it.

Letterman asks, “now that it is out in paperback have you read it?”

Donovan shakes his head and says, “Uh, no David I can’t say I have. I know all the stories, so why should I waste my time reading the book!”

Exactly.

Woodlawn Cemetery Memorial Tells A Coney Island Story Of Unusual Death

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Brighton Beach Lightning Strike Felt By Thousands, Kills Six – July 30, 1905

When walking through Woodlawn Cemetery in the Bronx, you can come across fancy mausoleums and simple grave markers of the famous and infamous. F.W. Woolworth, Fiorello LaGuardia, Duke Ellington, Bat Masterson and Herman Melville are among the half million souls interred in this historic place.Demmerle Memorial

Then out of the blue you may stumble across the lives of ordinary New Yorker’s memorialized in an extraordinary way. Such is the Demmerle monument.

Unlike many other tombstones which record a name and birth and death years with a short epitaph, the Demmerle memorial is an ornate series of carved monuments which tells and shows the story of one family’s tragedy.

Demmerle Charles and EmilieSunday July 30, 1905 started out as a beautiful, sun-filled, hot day Continue reading →

Gil Coan Washington Senators Outfielder

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Gil Coan May 29, 1948

Gil Coan 5 29 1948

Gil Coan turned 91 on May 18, 2013. The North Carolina native started his major league career in Washington in 1946 at the age of 24.

The speedy left fielder had a few good seasons on some unspectacular Washington Senators teams. Though he hit only .254 for his career, Coan finished in the top ten in stolen bases in the American League six times and hit .303 in consecutive seasons, 1950 and 1951.

The Trade

No one could possibly foresee that the trade Gil Coan was involved in would turn out to be one of the most one-sided in baseball history. Continue reading →

An Incredible Babe Ruth Accomplishment

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The Babe Hit Homers, But Didn’t Give Them Up

Babe Ruth 1916 at Comiskey Park LOC 2When I’m asked who was the greatest baseball player of all-time, I never hesitate in my answer that it was Babe Ruth. For the few people still living who saw Ruth play, they will attest to his skills as not just a great hitter, but an excellent fielder, surprisingly fast base runner (excepting his 1926 World Series blunder) and of course a dominant pitcher.

In 1916 with the Boston Red Sox, Ruth did something that only five other pitchers in the modern era have accomplished. Ruth pitched over 300 innings (324) without allowing a home run. Can you imagine that? Even in the deadball era when home runs were tough to come by, this is still an amazing achievement and one that will likely never be done again.

Starting pitchers today do not come close to pitching 300 innings, let alone not give up homers. The last pitcher Continue reading →