JB's Warehouse & Curio Emporium

  Esquire, June 1966. Given the current climate where knock-down culture runs rampant, it was interesting to  stumble upon  this 1966 Esquire cover featuring famous people who few publicly hated on.  As for the "unknockables" on this cover, clockwise from the top are Kate Smith (singer whose rendition of "God Bless America" spurred on the Philadelphia Flyers during the 1970s), John Cameron Swayze (early 1950s NBC nightly news anchor and Timex watch spokesperson), Helen Hayes (legendary actress), Norman Thomas (Socialist presidential candidate), Marianne Moore (see below), Jimmy Durante ("good night Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are..."), and Eddie Bracken (comedic actor, best known to my generation as Roy Walley in National Lampoon's Vacation ), with Joe Louis (legendary boxer) in the middle. Let's explore who else was considered universally beloved... The portraits were illustrated by Jack Davis , who career was in high gear during the 1960s as he ...

Feeling nostalgic this holiday season, I'm diving into Christmas records that my family owned when I was a kid.  And now, the other Christmas record I put on repeat as a kid, I'll Be Home For Christmas , which was produced by one of the largest purveyors of "junk" records. Pickwick was a budget label which hit its peak during the 1960s and 1970s. They released anything from covers of current hits by anonymous studio ensembles to re-releases of albums from major labels that dropped a track or two. Quality was not always Pickwick's highest priority. My guess is that this record was purchased at a discount department store in a sale bin.  In this case, just as Christmas Pleasures used Columbia's catalogue, this 1976 album digs into Capitol's vaults. Since, being a Pickwick product, this album only has ten tracks, let's plow through all of them... SIDE ONE Dean Martin - Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer This track amused me as a kid, having already sens...

  Feeling nostalgic this holiday season, I'm diving into Christmas records that my family owned when I was a kid, starting with a late 1970s dive into Columbia Records' vaults, Christmas Pleasures. Click here for side one .  Mitch Miller and the Gang - Winter Wonderland       Ah, Mitch Miller. On the one hand, the man had an ear for hits, turning Columbia Records into a pop powerhouse during the 1950s. He helped shape the role of a record producer, transforming it from a passive to active role in the studio. On the other hand, he had a fondness for schlock, and resisted signing rock acts, leaving Columbia behind in that genre until the mid-1960s. And then there was Sing Along With Mitch . Growing out of a series of albums that started in the late 1950s, Miller welded large vocal ensembles with old-fashioned tunes that listeners could sing along with. They sold well with older audiences, leading to an NBC television series which ran from 1961 to 1964.  How...

This post offers supplementary material for an article I recently wrote for TVO , which you should read before diving into this post. Click on images for larger versions.    The ads produced by the province to explain the implementation of minimum wages in the Golden Horseshoe. These versions originally appeared in the June 11, 1963 edition of the Globe and Mail .      Toronto Star, September 6, 1963.  How the Progressive Conservatives presented the minimum wage during the 1963 provincial election campaign. Small ads like these were used to tackle the various points of the Tory platform, including topics like margarine colouring. Note the local candidates spotlighted in this ad, who range from Minister of Labour Leslie Rowntree to future disgraced hockey figure Alan Eagleson.       Toronto Star, September 17, 1963.  .    Toronto Star, September 21, 1963.  A Communist campaign ad...

Panel from the Detroit Historical Museum's exhibit, Detroit 67: Perspectives . July 8, 2017. One of the elements I appreciated in the current Detroit Historical Museum exhibit on the civil unrest in Detroit in 1967 was its analysis of the media coverage. One panel lists what elements that we might expect today were missing. Panel from the Detroit Historical Museum's exhibit,  Detroit 67: Perspectives . July 8, 2017.   For television coverage, a space designed to evoke a middle class living room displayed footage on screens resembling vintage sets. As you'll see from the articles included in this post, the Canadian coverage followed a similar playbook. As the disturbance grew the morning of July 23, authorities urged the media to avoid or downplay reports, in order to maintain calm. It quickly became impossible to hide what was going on. CKLW-TV (now CBET) provided the first local TV report around 2 p.m. Soon, reporters from outside the region began desc...

Poster hanging outside the Detroit Historical Museum, July 8, 2017. A police raid on a “blind pig” (an unlicensed drinking venue) at 12 th Street and Clairmount Avenue in the early morning hours of July 23, 1967 provided the fuse for five days of civil unrest in Detroit. Whether you call what happened that week a rebellion, riot, or uprising, the repercussions are still evident around the city, and remain a well-debated subject. Given Detroit’s proximity to Canada, the events that unfolded affected Windsor, and were commented on elsewhere around the country. What I aim to do with these posts is show Canadian reaction to the events in Detroit, primarily from newspapers in Toronto and Windsor. This series grew from several streams of things I’ve done over the past year: Collecting newspaper stories: Side stories I saved while researching Canada’s centennial, others I tracked down out of personal interest. Museum visits: if you’re visiting Detroit during the...