Vintage Salem

Welcome to another Vintage Salem Posts. Every Wednesday we will post another image from our home town’s past. If you have any other images of the buildings or locations we offer each Wednesday, please share them below.

Marching Band in Salem MA

 

Jean Missud Orchestra from the Second Corp. of Cadets on Essex Street

Jean Missud and his Second Corp of Cadets Marching Band in a parade down Essex Street in Salem MA. Jean wrote famous pieces like the March of the Witches and the Salem Gazebo is dedicated to him. It is even said that his band still can be heard around the gazebo playing a few ghostly tunes….

Send us your favorite vintage Salem photos to info@salemhousepress.com and we will post them and give you a shout out! Also if you have some to add about the photo from family histories, your readings, or your memories, please share them below in the comments section.

Cheers,
Chris
Owner Salem House Press

Richard Amsel: Illustrator of the Week

Get Your Popcorn….

Amsel quickly found popularity within New York’s art scene, and his illustrations caught the attention of Barry Manilow, then a young singer/songwriter named who was working with Bette Midler, a newly emerging entertainer in cabaret clubs and piano bars. Manilow introduced the two, and it was quickly decided that Amsel should do the cover of her first Atlantic Records album. The cover, for The Divine Miss M proved to be one of the most ubiquitous of the year. More album covers and posters soon followed, as did a series of magazine ads for designer Oleg Cassini.[citation needed]

His movie posters commissions included some of the most important and popular films of the 1970s, including The Champ, Chinatown, Julia, The Last Picture Show, The Last Tycoon, The Life and Times of Judge Roy Bean, McCabe & Mrs. Miller, The Muppet Movie, Murder on the Orient Express, Nashville, Papillon, The Shootist, and The Sting. (The latter’s poster design paid homage to the painting style of J. C. Leyendecker, evoking both his “Arrow Collar Man” and his covers for The Saturday Evening Post.)[citation needed]

Though brief, Amsel’s career was prolific. By the decade’s end his movie posters alone matched or exceeded the creative output of many of his contemporaries. His portrait of comedian Lily Tomlin was featured on the cover of Time, and is now housed in the permanent collection at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington D.C. In keeping with the magazine’s stringent deadlines, Amsel’s illustration was created in only two or three days.

Gallery:

Wikipedia:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Amsel

Extended Gallery:

http://www.adammcdaniel.com/RichardAmsel2.htm

New Tunnel Finds on Becket Street. Two in one day…

Welcome to the Salem Tunnel Report. Every Monday we will post new and old tunnel finds along with those who built them. In our posts you will learn how Salem has shaped American history from the profits of the smuggling that happened in these tunnels; sometimes for the good, but more often not.

Tunnels at 8 Becket Street

Here is the house and the sealed tunnel entrances. The last image is of the Commercial Coffee House in Boston the once owner of this house and smuggle had owned in Boston. William Merriam was a Salem Common Improvement Subscriber.

and Derby Laundry at 82 Derby Street.

Becket’s Shipyard was on this location. Clifford Crowninshield the Elder had owned this property and what later would be called Phillip’s Wharf. After Crowninshield owned it Samuel Very 3rd who was a block maker owned it. Both were Salem Common Improvement Fund Subscribers, a ruse to beautify a park as they hid tunnel dirt in the ponds. These subscribers paid for the tunnel extensions in 1801. Pump and block makers were hired in the construction of the tunnels to move bricks and pump water out of te tunnels.

For more read Salem Secret Underground: The History of the Tunnels in the City and its sequel Sub Rosa by Chris Dowgin published by Salem House Press. Available at Barnes & Noble, Remember Salem, The Witch House, Jolie Tea, and Amazon.com.

Quarries of the Pines

Beautiful…

I took on a new habit while visiting the Pines; get out your Google Maps and start looking for quarries. Just make sure you do not see any buildings or dredging equipment and your golden to hike in and check them out. Or just look for any body of water, and it probably worth a hike.

This on was the last on the south side of Lacey Road heading east. It had this cool camp too.

Gallery:

Top 10 Strangest Experimental Planes

Welcome back to my blog about balloons, rocket ships, airplanes, space travel, Star Wars, sci-fi, and everything about flying! Today I am going to share with you my favorite weird and wonderful experimental planes throughout history!!!

10. SNECMA Atar Volat

French: Beginning in 1956, the French engine manufacturer SNECMA built a series of wingless test rigs called the Atar Volant, as precursors to a winged aircraft. Only the first of these was unpiloted and the second flew freely, both stabilized by gas jets on outrigger pipes. The third had a tilting seat to allow the pilot to sit upright when the fuselage was level and had the lateral air intakes planned for the free flying aircraft, though it always operated attached to a movable cradle.

The ninth flight, on 25 July 1959, was planned to make limited moves towards the horizontal but with insufficient instrumentation and a lack of visual benchmarks the aircraft became too inclined and too slow to maintain altitude. Morel was unable to regain control and escaped with an ejection at 150 m (492 ft). He survived but was badly injured; the aircraft was destroyed and a planned second prototype did not receive funding.
Wikipedia Entry: Click Here!

9.  Akaflieg Darmstadt/Akaflieg München DM1

German: The DM1 was built as a single-seat glider from steel-tubing, plywood and bakelite impregnated plywood, with a cockpit in the extreme nose of the junction of the triangular mainplanes and fin. Launching the DM1 was to be by piggy-back or aero-tow.

Wikipedia Entry: Click Here!

 

8.   Horten H.VI

German: The Horten H.VI was a flying wing aircraft designed by the Horten brothers during World War II. Based on the Horten H.IV, the H.VI was an enlarged version of the H.IV, with the goal of comparing their flying wing designs against the very large span Akaflieg Darmstadt D-30 Cirrus.

Wikipedia Entry: Click Here!

 

7.   Sack AS-6
German: During the summer of 1944, JG 400, who flew the rocket-powered Messerschmitt Me 163B “Komet”, was moved to Brandis. They found the AS-6 there and tried to fly it, but the only attempt resulted in a collapsed landing gear leg. The AS-6 was damaged in a strafing attack during the winter of 1944-45, and was broken up to salvage the wood. All that was left was the miscelleneous metal parts, and these were thrown into the aircraft salvage area. In all probability, this is why American troops who entered the Brandis air base in April 1945 found no traces of the Sack AS-6.
 
6.  Stipa-Caproni

Italian: Dubbed “the barrel-shaped plane” or “the cask plane”, this forerunner of jet airplanes was designed by engineer Luigi Stipa, and built as a prototype by Caproni di Milano-Taliedo. It featured a large cylindrical fuselage that enclosed the engine and propeller, so that the air thrust in the metal tube by the rotating blades could make the propelling system more dynamic. However, the craft’s shape increased its drag and counteracted the benefits of the engine’s heightened efficiency.
The Caproni-Stipa took off only for a brief series of test flights, and was demolished in 1933. However, a 3/5-scale replica of it was recently built in Australia, with full-color photographs attesting to some successful flights in October 2001.

~Max

To find out more about me visit Salem House Press and buy my book on Amazon.com! Now available in paperback at your favorite book sellers. Ask for it by name! If they do not have it in stock, ask them to order it for you.

Vintage Salem

Welcome to another Vintage Salem Posts. Every Wednesday we will post another image from our home town’s past. If you have any other images of the buildings or locations we offer each Wednesday, please share them below.

Essex St. Salem MA

Ted Coles corner of Essex Street and St. Peters Street

This is the second location of Ted Cole’s Music shop. The first I believe was on the corner of Front and Central Street in a building replaced by a cherry dogwood tree and an air conditioner unit. Previously in the location above was an Eaton Pharmacy. Now the East India Mall and the fountain have closed off Saint Peter’s access to this corner. Can you name where Ted Cole’s final location was?

Send us your favorite vintage Salem photos to info@salemhousepress.com and we will post them and give you a shout out! Also if you have something to add about the photo from family histories, your readings, or your memories, please share them below in the comments section.

Cheers,
Chris
Owner of Salem House Press

J.C.Leyendecker: Illustrator of the Week

Rockwell Before Rockwell…

As the premier cover illustrator for the enormously popular Saturday Evening Post for much of the first half of the 20th century, Leyendecker’s work both reflected and helped mold many of the visual aspects of the era’s culture in America. The mainstream image of Santa Claus as a jolly fat man in a red fur-trimmed coat was popularized by Leyendecker, as was the image of the New Year Baby.[22] The tradition of giving flowers as a gift on Mother’s Day was started by Leyendecker’s May 30, 1914 Saturday Evening Post cover depicting a young bellhop carrying hyacinths. It was created as a commemoration of President Woodrow Wilson‘s declaration of Mother’s Day as an official holiday that year.

Leyendecker was a chief influence upon, and friend of, Norman Rockwell, who was a pallbearer at Leyendecker’s funeral. In particular, the early work of Norman Rockwell for the Saturday Evening Post bears a strong superficial resemblance to that of Leyendecker. While today it is generally accepted that Norman Rockwell established the best-known visual images of Americana, in many cases they are derivative of Leyendecker’s work, or reinterpretations of visual themes established by Rockwell’s idol.

Gallery:

Wikipedia Page:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/J._C._Leyendecker

More Info:

https://americanillustration.org/project/jc-leyendecker/

Extended Gallery:

http://www.americanartarchives.com/leyendecker,jc.htm

I AM JOHN MURRAY FORBES

Welcome to tales of Nineteenth-Century Salem. A time in which Salem was the richest city and the most influential in shaping our young country. In our posts you will learn how Salem has shaped American history from the profits she made by the smuggling that happened in her tunnels by the most wealthy and powerful in their day; sometimes for the good, but more often not. So join us every Monday for new tales!

John Murray Forbes

Railroads…

You might think I made my fortune from railroads. In fact, I made my fortune in Russell & Co. selling opium to China. My uncles Thomas and James Perkins (of Salem) started the company and sold it to Samuel Russell when I ran the firm. We were responsible for over 80% of the youth of China being addicted at the time. Samuel Russell was a cousin of William Russell who started the Skull & Bones with Alphonso Taft. They purchased my uncle Thomas’s land to build their crypt on. John Forbes Kerry would be my descendant and bonesman. His friend George Herbert Walker Bush, bonesman, would hear our family story about Thomas saying making drugs illegal is good for business because it limits competition. Bush will be the person who started the war on drugs.

For more read Sub Rosa by Chris Dowgin published by Salem House Press.
Available at Barnes & Noble, Remember Salem, Jolie Tea, and Amazon.com.

Old Naumkeag Trust Bank Building

Welcome to the Salem Tunnel Report. Every Monday we will post new and old tunnel finds along with those who built them. In our posts you will learn how Salem has shaped American history from the profits of the smuggling that happened in these tunnels; sometimes for the good, but more often not.

Tunnels under the old Naumkeag Trust Bank on the corner of Derby Square and Essex Street.

This spot originally held the Essex Bank before Charles Bulfinch built them a new bank on Central Street. The Salem Savings Bank, Salem Bank, and the Naumkeag Trust Bank which became Eastern Bank have used this building. The first building used as a bank on this location suffered a fire. Historically this location had six different buildings. Now all of their foundations are joined together in one large basement with several sealed tunnel entrances and tunnels converted into hallways between foundations. Due to the different levels of the original foundations there is a six foot difference between the basement floor near Essex Street and the alley off of Derby Square in the rear. Also there is a tomb of two runaway slaves in the basement.

For more read Salem Secret Underground: The History of the Tunnels in the City and its sequel Sub Rosa by Chris Dowgin published by Salem House Press. Available at Barnes & Noble, Remember Salem, The Witch House, Jolie Tea, and Amazon.com.