BOAC’S DAYLIGHT JET

“Leave at 10′ in the morning ( a delightful time of day!) … arrive London six and one-half sumptuous hours later! First Class ‘Monarch’ Service and Economy Class reservations from your Travel Agent or BOAC. If you prefer overnight travel, choose BOAC’s famous MONARCH –8:30 p. m. every evening.

B.O.A.C takes good care of you … on the ground… in the air… everywhere
BRITISH OVERSEAS AIRWAYS CORPORATION

530  Fifth Avenue, N.Y. 36. MU 7-1600. 71 B-way, N.Y. 6.”
The New York Times, Monday, April 17, 1961, page 2.

‘SFabulous Shoe Collections, 1977

“Invaluable! The 19.90 sandal. An opportune time now that the price is so special and the heat’s on. Rope wedge, t-strap on bouncy crepe soles. Black or white patent, formeverly $30, now 19.90. ‘SFabulous Shoe Collections, Seventh Floor. Saks Fifth Avenue, New York * White Plains * Springfield * Garden City * Bergen.”

The New York Times, Wednesday, June 1, 1977, page 4.

Lord & Taylor Settles FTC Charges, 2016

“National retailer Lord & Taylor has agreed to settle Federal Trade Commission charges that it deceived consumers by paying for native advertisements, including a seemingly objective article in the online publication Nylon and a Nylon Instagram post, without disclosing that the posts actually were paid promotions for the company’s 2015 Design Lab clothing collection.

The Commission’s complaint also charges that as part of the Design Lab rollout, Lord & Taylor paid 50 online fashion ‘influencers’ to post Instagram pictures of themselves wearing the same paisley dress from the new collection, but failed to disclose they had given each influencer the dress, as well as thousands of dollars, in exchange for their endorsement…

… According to the FTC, over a weekend in late March 2015, Lord & Taylor launched a comprehensive social media campaign to promote its new Design Lab collection, a private-label clothing line targeted to women between 18 and 35 years old. The marketing plan included branded blog posts, photos, video uploads, native advertising editorials in online fashion magazines, and online endorsements by a team of specially selected ‘fashion influencers.’

The complaint alleges that Lord & Taylor placed a Lord & Taylor-edited paid article in Nylon, a pop culture and fashion publication. Nylon also posted a photo of the retailer’s Design Lab Paisley Asymmetrical Dress on Nylon’s Instagram site, along with a caption that Lord & Taylor had reviewed and approved. The Instagram post and article gave no indication to consumers that they were paid advertising placed by Lord & Taylor.

Over the same weekend in March 2015, Lord & Taylor gave 50 select fashion influencers a free Paisley Asymmetrical Dress and paid them between $1,000 and $4,000 each to post a photo of themselves wearing it on Instagram or another social media site. While the influencers could style the dress any way they chose, Lord & Taylor contractually obligated them to use the ‘@lordandtaylor’ Instagram user designation and the hashtag ‘#DesignLab’ in the caption of the photo they posted. The company also pre-approved each proposed post.

In addition, the FTC’s complaint charges that Lord & Taylor did not require the influencers to disclose that the company had compensated them to post the photo, and none of the posts included such a disclosure. In total, the influencers’ posts reached 11.4 million individual Instagram users over just two days, led to 328,000 brand engagements with Lord & Taylor’s own Instagram handle, and the dress quickly sold out.”

“Lord & Taylor Settles FTC Charges It Deceived Consumers Through Paid Article in an Online Fashion Magazine and Paid Instagram Posts by 50 ‘Fashion Influencers,'”  Press Release Reference: FTC Approves Final Lord & Taylor Order Prohibiting Deceptive Advertising Techniques, Federal Trade Commission, March 15, 2016.

New Boom Ahead in “Inner” Space

“Ways in which SPACE INDUSTRY BREAKTHROUGHS point to a NEW BOOM AHEAD IN ‘INNER’ SPACE.

Imagine pre-testing assorted types of weather on a computer and then requisitioning it to order from a central or regional weather-control agency! Such prospects no longer belong in the science fiction class. Work toward such ends has already begun, and very real benefits should accrue soon in terms of minimized air pollution and improved visibility in areas of heavy air-traffic congestion. Still further work has commenced at sea-level and below–where, as we learn to harvest the ocean floor’s resources, we shall also begin to harness the tidal pulls for power and its warm-water currents for weather and temperature control. Already serious programs have been launched with a view to devising means of warming Arctic regions to open arable land and comfortable new living areas…

… How space developments are finding terrestrial and ‘inner space’ applications with enormous potentialities continues as a major preoccupation among Dynamics Letters editors; and if you would like our views concerning new ranges of growth opportunities which are emerging during the market’s newest corrective period, we suggest you send $5.00 for our next five issues.”

Advertisement on page 216 of The New York Times,  Sunday, May 7, 1961.

Redstone Ballistic Missile Exhibited in Grand Central, 1957

“United States Army Redstone Ballistic Missile Built by Chrysler Corporation
‘Research in Space’ An International Geophysical Year Display
Earth Satellite * Nike Cajun Rocket * Model Launching Site * Electronic Tracking System * Model Vanguard Rocket… Admission Free.”

In 1957 the United States Army exhibited a ballistic missile on the concourse at Grand Central Terminal in NYC, a Trumpian over-reaction to Sputnik 1 which was advertised with movie-style posters. (“MGM Pictures Proudly Presents: Mutual Assured Destruction…”). The process of installing the missile ripped a hole in the mural on the ceiling.

John Chandler Won’t You Please Come Home?

This ran on page 2 of the Friday, April 28, 1961 edition of The New York TImes. In 1961, John Davis Chandler played the gangster Vincent Coll in the film  Mad Dog Coll.

Hotel Bristol, 122-124 West 49th Street

“The new management of this hotel has spent an enormous sum in the interest of its patrons.
The redecorations are beautiful, tasty, and artistic, giving an air of luxury and refinement.
These improvements, together with increased service, make the Bristol a most desirable up-town hotel.
The location is ideal, being convenient to all modes of transportation. In the heart of the theatre district. Adjacent to 5th Ave., shopping and a few minutes walk to Central Park, the new Pennsylvania Terminal, and Grand Central  Station.

Rooms Light and Airy 
With running water, $1.00 to $1.50 per day
With private bath, $2.00, $2.50 and $3.00 per day.
An additional charge of only 50c per day when occupied by two persons. Two rooms and Bath $3.00 $4.00, and $5.00 per day 

RESTAURANT A CARTE
Write for Booklet and Map of New York
T.E. TOLSON.”

Advertisement in The Day, October 14, 1910. 

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Vince Neil Communes with his Ladyfriend

Prince Jefri Bolkiah of Brunei, described by Vanity Fair as ‘the prince who blew through billions,’ employed Asian and American women as members of a harem, including Jillian Lauren, who described it all in her beautifully written memoir Some Girls: My Life in a Harem. During her time in Brunei, Lauren met two women who had been romantically involved with Prince Jefri and the lead singer of Mötley Crüe, Vince Neil. Incidentally, neither Neil nor Jefri appear to have found that special someone. Ladies, we still have it all to play for:

“‘Have you spoken to Vince?’ I prompted her. She never tired of the question.

‘Well, he’s on the road. It’s hard. We keep missing each other. But I believe in us.’

‘You’re a girl of great faith.’

‘Vince told me that if I ever have doubts, I should just sit very still and close my eyes and think of his face. He said that I’ll be able to feel what he’s doing and then I’ll know in my heart he’s being faithful. Also, if I conccentrate hard enough, he’ll feel it too and he’ll know I’m thinking of him. And do you know what? It works.'”

Jillian Lauren, Some Girls: My Life in a Harem, Plume, 2010.

Photo: HeavyMezza89.

Why LBJ Drank Fresca

“I was at the White House in the winter of 1968 preparing for the interview with Mrs. Johnson, when Liz Carpenter, Lady Bird’s press secretary, asked me if I’d like to meet the president. He had a spare moment or two and had evidently asked Liz if I would drop by the Oval Office. I was somewhat taken aback. I had never met a U.S. president before and had not prepared in any way to meet him. But suddenly there I was, being ushered into that famous office, and there he was, all six foot three and a half inches of him, looming over me. He swallowed my hand in his and asked me if I wanted a Fresca. I’d never heard of the soft drink and thought wildly that it might be the name of a new dance, so I politely declined. President Johnson, who’d had his gallbladder removed a few years earlier (if you’re old enough, you definitely remember the photos of him showing off his scar) and suffered from recurring heart trouble, then told me why he drank a lot of Fresca and other soft drinks. His doctors had told him he had to give up smoking and drinking soda helped him fight the nicotine cravings. ‘It’s godawful’ said the president. And with that Lyndon Johnson, who liked to shock people with his sometimes coarse behavior, made a chopping motion over his groin. ‘I would rather they cut off my sex,’ he said.

I was momentarily speechless. ‘So happy to meet you, Mr. President,’ I finally managed. And left the Oval Office.”

Barbara Walters, Audition: A Memoir, Vintage Books, 2008.

Photo: By WmArbaugh – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=114076768

Oprah Winfrey is Cast in ‘The Color Purple’

“When I was just a little local anchorperson living in Baltimore, I read The Color Purple and then bought every copy that was in the bookstore and gave them out to everyone I knew. I was crazed over it, just obsessed with it. Then I heard they were making it into a movie and I said, ‘I gotta find a way to get in that movie.’ I didn’t know Quincy Jones, didn’t know Steven Spielberg. Two years later, I was living and working in Chicago. Quincy Jones was in town for a deposition for a plagiarism lawsuit involving Michael Jackson. He came out of the shower in his hotel and saw me on TV and said, ‘That’s Sofia.’ Never been in a play or a movie in my whole life. They called and said they were doing a movie called ‘Moonsong’ and would like to have me come read for it. And I said, ‘Is this about “The Color Purple” ’? When I saw the script I said, ‘This is The Color Purple. This is supposed to happen. I’m supposed to be in this.’ So I read for it, and for two months , I heard nothing. So I called back and the casting director was really rude to me. He said, ‘You are not the only person who’s read for this movie. You don’t know how it works here. We have real actresses reading.’ I said, ‘Who else is reading?’ and he said, ‘Alfre Woodard,’ and I thought, OK, that’s it. There’s no way I’m gonna get it. Now, around this time, 1985, I’d gone on The Tonight Show because they were just beginning to talk about the discovery of this girl in Chicago, and Joan Rivers, who was hosting, says to me on-camera, ‘You gotta lose the weight!’ Just like that. And I went, ‘Uhh . . . uhhh . . . .’ And she said, ‘I’ll lose five pounds if you lose fifteen. Let’s do a bet and then I’ll have you back on.’ I was put in the national dieting spotlight. So I said, ‘OK, I’m going on a diet for The Tonight Show. ’ So I went to this fat farm, and while I was there I was literally running around the track, praying to God to let me release this Color Purple thing, because I was obsessed, and somebody came out and said, ‘You have a phone call.’ And that was it. I got the part. The casting director said, ‘I hear you’re at a fat farm trying to lose weight. If you lose one pound you could lose this part.’ So I stopped at Dairy Queen. Just in case I had lost a pound.”

Oprah Winfrey, to Jonathan Van Meter, Vogue, May 25, 2011.
Photograph: Smithsonian – NMAAHC – Black dress worn by Oprah Winfrey as Sofia in The Color Purple – NMAAHC 2014.184.1.1, 1985.