Celluloid city
Wandering through American Radio History, looking for some interesting old equipment or architecture, noticed this station album from WBAL in Baltimore, dated 1927. Going through it, I didn't find any interesting stuff but caught an odd impression. The album included pictures and brief essays by all of the Distinguished Citizens of Baltimore. City officials, Noted Music Critics, etc. What's wrong with these pictures? They're in the wrong decade!



Most of the men are wearing stiff celluloid collars.

Celluloid collars were still fairly common in 1927. Some men added them for funerals or church, and a few men wore them for business. But most men let the cloth shirt collar do its job.

Was Baltimore unusually formal? It certainly isn't now!

Sidenote: Dude #3 with the pince-nez is Frederick Arthur Kummer, Noted Author And Playwright. His little ode to Baltimore included this anecdote:



Hmm. Maybe the pince-nez attitude helps to explain why Baltimore's current population is more riotous than elsewhere. When the leaders look down on you from such a steep and arrogant height, the lookdown acquires more momentum and tends to leave a mark.

HOWEVER! The above anecdote doesn't represent Kummer. The only full book I can find online is his The first days of man, designed to be read to kids by parents. It's the precise opposite of condescending and narrow-minded. It's a retelling of Genesis with a STRONG emphasis on direct experience.

From the preface:



YES! EXACTLY!

From the Injun-style creation story:



You can see why the book didn't gain any traction. Conventional educators would instantly reject the anti-theory methods, and conventional Christians would recoil in horror from the harmonious mix of Injun "paganism" and experimental science. The Jehovah story harmonizes with delusional theories.

Labels: Experiential education

  ¶ 5:10 PM