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Scientific Play For Children
From April 3, 1910 SCIENTIFIC PLAY FOR CHILDREN (PDF) This article outlines rules for playing tag, based upon rules adopted by the International Playtime Committee on Juvenile Sports. It took me a...
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Mark Twain — Philosopher Of Democracy
From April 24, 1910 MARK TWAIN — PHILOSOPHER OF DEMOCRACY: The Serious Side of the Famous Humorist Whose Dominant Note Was Love of Liberty and Hate of Shams (PDF) Mark Twain died 100 years ago this...
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Rearing Babies By Scientific Methods
From May 8, 1910 REARING BABIES BY SCIENTIFIC METHODS (PDF) A weird bit of humor. I’m not sure what movement in child care was happening at the time that prompted this piece, but I thought I’d post it...
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Circus Clown A Serious Person Out Of The Ring
From May 15, 1910 CIRCUS CLOWN A SERIOUS PERSON OUT OF THE RING: Yet People Refuse to Believe He Is Anything But a Buffoon Even in His Private Life (PDF) The same week the Magazine published a boring...
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Passing A Good Joke Along The Wire
From June 12, 1910 PASSING A GOOD JOKE ALONG THE WIRE (PDF) Today viral jokes spread by email, Twitter, or blogs. But in 1910, jokes went viral by telegraph, and not how you might think: [The reporter...
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O. Henry (Sidney Porter) As His Intimates Knew Him
From June 12, 1910 “O. HENRY” (SIDNEY PORTER) AS HIS INTIMATES KNEW HIM: Quiet, Modest, Reserved, He Avoided the Limelight and Found Happiness in Odd Corners of New York That Furnished Types and Plots...
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Strange Fashions In Burial Robes
From July 10, 1910 STRANGE FASHIONS IN BURIAL ROBES: How the Whims of Various Eccentric People as to How They Should Be Clothed in Death Are Carried Out (PDF) Not surprisingly, a lot of women wanted to...
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If You Are Bald You’ll Stay Bald
From July 24, 1910 IF YOU ARE BALD YOU’LL STAY BALD: That’s What a Tonsorial Artist Says and He Always Has His Reasons Therefor (PDF) The logic here seems to be: If there were a cure for baldness,...
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Freak Patents That Have Come In With The Aeroplane
From July 31, 1910 FREAK PATENTS THAT HAVE COME IN WITH THE AEROPLANE: Would-Be Inventors Keep the Department at Washington Busy With Schemes That Sound Flighty. (PDF) The illustrations and...
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From 1890: The First Text Messages
I’m trying something new today. Sometimes in my research I find an interesting old article that I wouldn’t normally post because it’s not from the Sunday Magazine section, or it’s from further than 100...
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The Unconscious Comedian In The Third Row
From August 14, 1910 THE UNCONSCIOUS COMEDIAN IN THE THIRD ROW (PDF) The story begins: How would you like to go to the theatre expecting to sit next to a friend, find the seat occupied by a stranger...
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Some Good Stories That Bring A Laugh With Them
From November 6, 1910 SOME GOOD STORIES THAT BRING A LAUGH WITH THEM: Robert Rudd Whiting Makes a Collection of Tales and Anecdotes in Which many Old Friends Combine with New Ones to Entertain the...
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The Woman, The Banana Peel And The Damage Suits
From November 27, 1910 THE WOMAN, THE BANANA PEEL AND THE DAMAGE SUITS: Mrs. Anna H. Sturla, Who Has Mad a High Record for Accident Cases, Will Have to Prove to the Court She Hasn’t Been Faking. (PDF)...
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A Man Who Has To Read 10,000 Jokes A Month
From February 19, 1911 A MAN WHO HAS TO READ 10,000 JOKES A MONTH: “F. P. A.,” Who Also Writes Jokes Himself, Gives The Times the Confessions of a Professional Chestnut Gatherer — How He Keeps Sane by...
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In The Good Old Days Of Harrigan And Hart
From June 11, 1911 IN THE GOOD OLD DAYS OF HARRIGAN AND HART: The Death of Edward Harrigan Brings Back to the Older Theatregoers Recollections of the Most Famous Comedians of Their Time in New York....
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“In Two Hundred Years There Will Be No Poets Nor Authors”
From July 23, 1911 “IN TWO HUNDRED YEARS THERE WILL BE NO POETS OR AUTHORS”: Thus Predicts Victor Auburtin, and the Cause, He Claims, Is Democracy and Utilitarianism. (PDF) It’s only been one hundred...
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Who Was The First Man — Or Woman — To Make A Joke?
From September 3, 1911 WHO WAS THE FIRST MAN — OR WOMAN — TO MAKE A JOKE? Some Familiar Specimens of Modern Humor Traced to Classic Greek and Roman Sources (PDF) This article has some great 2500 year...
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What Can an Actor Do When He Retires?
From October 29, 1916 What Can an Actor Do When He Retires?: E.H. Sothern Answers in Humorous Vein the Question So Often Asked, Using as Interlocutor the Ghost of Gamaliel Ratsey (PDF) The famed (at...
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Russia cartoon –“World: Gracious! What does this all mean?”
‘ This cartoon from 1917 about Russia could just as easily have run today. “World: Gracious! What does this all mean?” (PDF) From Sunday, March 18, 1917
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Three Stories a Year Are Enough for a Writer
When I was in late elementary school, my grandfather got me a book collection of Ring Lardner’s “You Know Me Al” comic strips, about the hijinks of a major league baseball player and his teammates....
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