An Expensive New Year’s Party. 1937.

The West Australian 11 Feb 1937 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41276164

To accommodate guests on New Years I cleaned the bathroom and sent the man of the house out to the shop for snacks and extra toilet paper. In preparation for her guests Mrs Evelyn Mclean built an extra wing of glass on her already palatial residence. I think that this clearly shows the difference in our financial situations!

In 1937 Americans were suffering under the hardship of the Great Depression. The average weekly wage for men in America at that time seems to have been about $1700. For her to spend nearly 6 years of average earnings on a party for her 500 nearest and dearest just shows that she wasn’t doing it as hard as the rest of her countrymen!

Drunken New Year. 1928.

Western Argus 10 Jan 1928 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article34423847

These people in 1928 were celebrating New Years during the prohibition era in New York, so the ‘boose’ was probably something home-made, the ingredients of which were probably something you would not want to drink!

Of course it doesn’t take poisonous alcohol to cause drunken brawls, I am sure there will be quite a few of them at New Year’s festivities around the world over the weekend.

Enjoy your New Year’s whatever form your celebration may take!

Not the kind of christmas present anyone would want. 1930.

The West Australian 3 Jan 1930 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article32342148

When you open your christmas presents in a few days time just be glad that you are no going to open this gift.

I wonder who sent this and why. It was lucky the neighbour whose house it was incorrectly delivered to passed it on and didn’t keep it for themselves….

Estranged wife and a birthday cake from above. 1947.

Barrier Miner 15 Apr 1947 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article48494499

My computer and the internet are having relationship problems this week so I see no reason to stray from these appropriate articles about the many, and I suspect turbulent, relationships of the much married Tommy Manville at the moment.

At any time my tenuous connection with the interweb could drop out, and really, he was such a popular fellow these articles are easy to find. Don’t accuse me of laziness, it is really just a kind of speed-posting!

In this article wife number eight is going to send him a birthday cake by helicopter even though they are estranged and have filed assault charges against each other. Hmm, I wonder if the helicopter is going to gently touch down in his lavish gardens and deliver a beautifully decorated cake? I kind of hope it is more like black-clad hitmen with weaponized baking and more assault charges filed in the morning.

Wife number eight. 1944.

The Argus 7 Aug 1944 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article11355559

Sorry for the very late post today. My computer and wordpress were having issues and not speaking to each other. Finally got them talking just before I was ready to pack it in and go to bed!

Tommy Manville must be quite a catch, or perhaps he is just quite easy to catch.

In 1944 the lucky showgirl Collette is wife number eight. Yesterdays post was wife number five in 1939. I have a feeling I could do a whole week of Tommy and his conquests.

I am glad they plan to adopt a baby, back in 1944 I think it would have been a quicker process than it is today, and judging by Tommy and his habit of quick wife trading they might not actually have time to have an entire pregnancy…

More money than sense. 1939.

The Canberra Times 23 Oct 1939 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article2514583

To be an asbestos millionaire is a very non-PC thing to admit to these days, and this article just shows that air-headed celebrity is nothing new.

‘The war news is boring me’ he says. Poor pet, I bet he wouldn’t have been bored if he was actually involved in the war.

I wonder what happened to the previous four wives? I also wonder if he had actually asked the lucky Eleanor Troy to be number five, or just assumed she would be unable to resist his amazing charms?

If you hate your job, you should just quit. Extreme measures. 1936.

Albany Advertiser 21 Dec 1936 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article70259057

What an unusual way to hasten the end. If you hate your job you should really do something a little less drastic about it. I wonder what the pilot was thinking as this guy dove out?

I wonder if it was his own shop or if he had spent ages just dreaming about smashing through the roof onto his surprised boss?

I am sure we have all imagined ways to tell a crappy boss to shove their job, but diving through the roof from 3,500 ft? Really? I think he could have thought that through a little better.

Either way, it would appear he missed the grocery altogether and only managed to ruin a nearby bungalow and nearly take out some innocent bystanders. Those poor women are never going to feel safe indoors again!

Where was she going to put it!? 1846.

South Australian Register 13 Jun 1846 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article27453087

When I read the inventory of things this ‘genteel’ lady had secreted about her person I wondered big the muff she was carrying was!

Not only that, how did she get the other things under her skirts without someone noticing?

Quite a selection she had stashed away there. Apart from the clothing she seemed to be just doing her shopping for a nice night in with a friend. Oysters, broiled crab, codfish, fruit, vegetables, dessert and some reading material. Along with the cut glass tumblers, all she needed was a bottle of red and she was set.

Snowstorm of Moths. 1932.

Cairns Post 12 Jul 1932 http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article41161552

In Australia we have Bogong moths that migrate in large numbers at certain times of year. I am not sure that they ever migrate in such numbers that you would be able to say they carpeted the ground thickly as they do in this article.

Imagine how many moths it would take to cloud the lights of Broadway for hours. I am sure there were less lights in 1932 but still, that is a lot of moths. What an amazing sight it would have been.

I wonder what type of moths they were and if they are known for mass migration?