One of the First Bomb Sights (Popular Mechanics, 1914)Attached is a photograph and short description of "One of the latest bomb-dropping devices" that were available to French and British pilots during the earliest days of World War One.
Was Jesus Black? (The Crises, 1914)Chances are pretty slim that Jesus of Nazareth was a button-nose blondy - so pink of cheek, with eyes of blue - yet, time and again, this was the manner in which he was rendered by the Christians of the Gilded Age. When the African-American magazine The Crises began to run illustrated advertisements depicting Christ as anything but a white fellow you better believe there were some letters addressed to their editors on the issue. The attached article was their response to these outraged readers. Photographs of the Crowned Heads of Europe (Vanity Fair, 1914)"Will Any of These Pictures be Turned to the Wall?" asked the editors of VANITY FAIR shortly after the outbreak of the W.W. I. On the attached pages are photographic portraits of the potentates representing the assorted combatant nations; French President Raymond Poincare was the only elected official to be included among the royals. Pictured are Austria's Emperor Franz Joseph, Britain's King George V, Germany's Willhem II, Victor Emmanuel II of Italy, Peter of Serbia and Albert, King of the Belgians.
The Round-Winged Monoplane (Popular Mechanics, 1914)This is a small illustrated page about an early monoplane popularly known on the English isles as the Flying Teatray. A peculiar looking machine, it apparently was able to get off the ground for a while (see illustration) but it was passed by for service during the First World War, which had been raging for some three months by the time this article was published. German Howitzers (Popular Mechanics, 1914)At the time, the war of 1914 - 1918 was unique in the sense that it was the first war in which more men were killed as a result of the projectiles rather than from disease; and it was artillery that did the lion's share of the killing. This article appeared during the early months of the war when the world was shocked to learn of the astounding losses due to advancements in artillery. There is an illustration of an unidentified German howitzer (more than likely a 1911 model 210mm) and an account of the roll that German gunnery played during the siege of Liege and Fort Loncin in particular. "The one big surprise for the military experts thus far developed in the European war is the effectiveness of the heavy guns of the German field artillery. Never before have such terrible engines of annihilation been carried by an invading army as those used in the assault upon the forts at Liege." *Watch a Film Clip About the German Mauser K98 Rifle* Armed Motorcycles (Popular Mechanics, 1914)The combining of machine gun and motorcycle was an entirely Canadian concept that made an appearance early in the war. It is highly likely that the vehicles never got their "baptism of fire": "an interesting adaptation of the motorcycle to military uses has been made by employing it as a light artillery vehicle...the accompanying photograph shows a machine gun mounted on a sidecar chassis." John Singer Sargent in 1914 (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1914)The attached VANITY FAIR article announced that the numero uno society portrait painter of the Gilded Age, John Singer Sargent (1856 - 1925) was swearing-off portrait commissions in order to concentrate on water color. Little did he know that he would be back at it in a few years painting whole boat-loads of general officer portraits when he was named as one of the Official British War Artists. Anticipating the Distasteful Ending (The Masses, 1914)Although not known as a clairvoyant, this 1914 cartoon by the New York artist John Sloan (1871 - 1951) seemed to predict the lousy ending that would play out four years after W.W. I reached its bloody climax. Alfonso XIII and his Typewriter (Popular Mechanics, 1914)Alfonso XIII of Spain (1886 – 1941) is remembered as a pretty level-headed guy, but non the less, it was news items like this one that made Karl Marx first dip his nib in the inkwell...
••In this Newsreel Footage, Spain's Alfonso XIII Goes Into Exile•• The English Country House: What Good Is It? (Vogue Magazine, 1914)The author of this VOGUE MAGAZINE article needed to know the answer to this most relevant of questions: did the English country house come into being simply to "keep the English playwright from the bread-lines?" The Princess Colonels of 1914 (Vanity Fair, 1914)Attached is a page from VANITY FAIR MAGAZINE depicting the ten European princesses from 1914, having benefited from full hair and make-up, posing bemedaled and amused in full military dress before the society magazine cameras.
The Royals pictured on this page were all granted the ceremonial rank of 'Colonel' in the household cavalry units within their respective principalities, as well as a few of the cavalry regiments outside their domains.
"Several of the Royal and Imperial women in Europe, who are possessed of military rank, have lost their colonelcies in foreign regiments by the World War. Thus, the Czarina and the Russian Grand Duchess, as well as Queen Mary of England, have been deprived of their commands in the Kaiser's army."
French Dirigible (Popular Mechanics, 1914)Pictured herein is the French dirigible ADJUDANT REAU as it appeared during the first months of the First World War.
Also depicted are two early tri-planes which were used to help elevate the craft. Good Taste and the Year 1914 (The Delineator Magazine, 1914)A quick read for costumers and historians regarding the fashion "dos and don'ts" on the matter of men's ready-made clothes from 1914. Naval Aviation as a Concept (Popular Mechanics, 1914)As early as 1914, the dreamers who saw the possibilities in aviation began to envision non fixed-wing aircraft and ships that could carry them out to sea. The attached 1914 article concerns an unnamed ship being constructed at the Blyth Shipyard in England that is designed to transport "flying boats" at sea, picking-up and lowering to and from the sea by way of cranes. The article is illustrated.
''Merry Christmas, Major X'' (Der Welt Spiegel, 1914)Published a few months after the war began, this German short story was written about a particular front line rifle company and the contempt that they shared for one of their officers. It's a good read. Experimental Nightflights (Popular Mechanics, 1914)Photographs of one of the first attempts at night flying with wing-mounted electric lights.
A Color Photograph of General Von Kluck and General Von Kuhl (Nations at War, 1914)An early war (hand tinted) color image of German General Alexander Von Kluck (1846-1934), General Von Kuhl and General Walter Von Bergmann posing among various assembeled German staff officers. *Watch More Stunning Colorized Footage of World War One* British Flappers (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1914) Photographs of the Kaiser's Children (Vanity Fair, 1914) Photographic portraits of the six sons and one daughter of the German Kaiser. The sons pose polished, varnished and bemedaled as the military fops they were trained to be: "Born in a palace; in a barracks bred". The journalist points out that even Wilhelm's one daughter served as a Colonel in an elite cavalry regiment.
Click here to read about the royal princess colonels of of the pre-war period.
~Click Here to Read About Women in World War One~ Summer Mode for an Era's End (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1914)The Paris fashion world that thrived during the August of 1914 was rightfully intrigued by the chic creations conjured up by the House of Worth, Drécoll, and Mme Paquin. Air Cruisers of the British Flying Squadron (Popular Mechanics, 1914)Here is a short article with photographs depicting two unnamed British fighter- planes: one is described as "double-decker", with the pilot riding directly over the gunner and the second boasts of a steel fuselage construction. A Color Photograph of One of the Very First Trenches (1914)This will give the viewer a good understanding of what the trenches looked like in the autumn of 1914, before the adjoining communication lines were dug and the years of rain and artillery would begin to create that landscape so famously depicted by the photographers, painters and writers of the First World War. In the distance beyond the haystack, the opposing German trenches can be seen.
*Turn Down the Volume and Watch this Remarkable Color Clip of the Ground War* In Praise of Slapstick Comedy (Photoplay Magazine, 1914)A reporter from Photoplay Magazine let all her eager readers in on the excitement from the glamorous set of the Essanay Film Manufacturing Company (Illinois) where the comedy, "Actor Finney's Finnish" (1914) was being shot.
The silent short was directed and performed by those who would be participating steadily during Hollywood's next thirty year spree: E. Mason Hopper (1885 - 1967), Director; Wallace Beery (1885 - 1949), leading man; Eddie Redway (1869 - 1919), co-star; Leo White (1882 - 1948), co-star; Bobbie Bolder (1859-1937) co-star, Ruth Hennesy (no dates), actress. Railway Guns (Popular Mechanics, 1914)Railway-mounted artillery can be dated to the 19th century, however their shining moment came during World War One, and the most notorious of these was the German manufactured "Paris Gun" which showed up in 1918 and was able to shell that city from as far as 75 miles away. The well-illustrated article attached herein first appeared a few months prior to the war's outbreak and concerns the railway gun that the French had on hand at the time: 7.87 inch, 6 inch and 4.7 inch howitzers which were intended for coastal defense. By 1916 both sides in the war would be deploying enormous rail-mounted naval guns, capable of delivering a far larger blow. Click here to read about the U.S. Navy railroad guns of W.W. I. A New Word for the Dictionary (NY Times, 1914)In our era it doesn't seem terribly odd that a fresh, exciting and highly popular industry would begin generating new words to fill our dictionaries, and 1914 was no different. The attached article introduced the readers of THE NEW YORK TIMES to a new verb contributed by the early film industry:
"The verb 'to film' having gained currency, it must be graciously admitted to the language. It will soon be in the 'advanced' dictionaries and it must be recognized. The old idea of protecting the English language from invasion is extinct. To 'film' means to make a picture for a 'movie' show'".
During the past twenty years, Hollywood provided us with a whole slew of terms, such as "dramedy" (a combination between a comedy and a drama) and “romcom” (romantic comedy), "sitcom" (situation comedy) to name only a few.
Click here to read another article about the impact of film on the English language.
Advertisements: Five Ads for Military Wrist Watches ( S & S, 1918 and Die Welt Spiegel, 1914)The Great War held "firsts" in many categories (first big air war, first poison gas war, first submarine war) and it was also the first war in which the wrist watch played an important part. Four of the attached ads appeared in THE STARS AND STRIPES between 1918 and 1919 while the sole German ad that is posted first appeared during opening months of the conflict. Also provided is a color photograph of a World War One watch housed in one of the many types of wrist-bands available at that time. A Profile of Cartoonist Rube Goldberg, Cartoonist and Quack-Inventor (Vanity Fair, 1914)In the attached 1914 magazine profile, Joseph Edgar Chamberlin (1851 - 1935) asked, "Who is Goldberg?" and then jumped right in and proceeded to answer that question. However, the reader should understand that in 1914 it simply did not take very long to give the answer. With so much good work yet to come, this article outlined the cartoonist's earliest employment record while making clear that he was already well known for his invention gags, which had already appeared in many papers across the United States.
If you would like to read a 1930 article written by Rube Goldberg click here.
Click here to see an anti-New Deal cartoon that Goldberg drew in 1939.
A New Kind of Motorcycle (Magazine Advertisement, 1914)Pictured is the attached advertisement is the Harley-Davidson Two-Speed Twin of 1914, which featured the patented Step-Starter and the expanding rear brake. Albert, King of the Belgians (Vanity Fair, 1914)A Vanity Fair article by Ard Choille that recalls the low key visit that Belgium's Albert I (1875 – 1934) made to the U.S. in 1898 while in the company of his young bride, Elizabeth (1876 - 1965), formerly the Duchess of Bavaria. Published at a time when the Great War was in it's fourth month, the journalist was mindful of the valiant roll Albert was maintaining as the Commander-in-Chief of the struggling Belgian Army in the face of the German onslaught.
Click here to read about the W.W. I efforts of Prince Edward, the future Duke of Windsor.
Miracle Hats (Popular Mechanics, July & November, 1914)Often decanted in barber shops is the old joke:
"There is only one thing that stops hair from falling------the floor".
Our hats are off to the scientific-community of 1914 that tried to make the above gag even more forgettable than it already was, however, the search for the cure for baldness continues into the Twenty-First Century. A Colour Photograph of German
General Von Heeringen (The Nations at War, 1914)An early war (hand tinted) color image of Imperial Germany's General Josais Von Heeringen (1850 - 1926) celebrating the Kaiser's Birthday by distributing medals among deserving soldiers.
Earliest Car Crash Photograph (Popular Mechanics, 1914)A rare action photograph of an unidentified car and driver smashing into the crowd-control fencing at the Vanderbilt Cup Races held in Santa Monica, California during the summer of 1914. The unstoppable juggernaut was cruising at sixty-miles miles per hour. Click here to read about the historic trans-Atlantic flight of Charles Lindbergh. *Watch a Film Clip About Auto Racing Between 1903 - 1906* Mocking Ad Practices in the Early 20th Century (Vanity Fair Magazine, 1914)In the attached Vanity Fair article, James Montgomery Flagg (1877 – 1960) had a good laugh at the hand that fed him: the New York advertising establishment. Better remembered in our own time as the creator of the iconic "I Want You for the U.S. Army" poster (1917), Flagg was a prolific artist and one of the highest paid magazine and advertising illustrators of his day. As the era of mass-media advertising developed, Flagg didn't just have a good seat on the fifty-yard line; he was a player on the field and he saw his work reproduced in all sorts of unlikely venues. A Color Photograph of One of the Very First Trenches (1914)This will give the viewer a good understanding of what the trenches looked like in the autumn of 1914, before the adjoining communication lines were dug and the years of rain and artillery would begin to create that landscape so famously depicted by the photographers, painters and writers of the First World War. In the distance beyond the haystack, the opposing German trenches can be seen. Snipers and the Hague Convention (The Spectator, 1914)Two and a half months into the war, a devoted reader of THE SPECTATOR (and we are among them) responded to an earlier article concerning partisan sniping activity in occupied France and Belgium, wrote to the editors to point out that the Hague Convention (precursor to the Geneva Convention) condemned the practice of summary sniper executions. Mention is made of the fact that the occupying German forces
disregarded the law. | 
