Wednesday, July 1, 2009

Fashionable Flappers Love the Scarlet Knights

Everybody knows (or should know) that the last great economic crisis to hit the world is traditionally dated to the stock market crash that took place on Black Thursday, October 24, Black Monday, October 28, and Black Tuesday, October 29, 1929.
So, which magazine was lying around on the credenzas, sideboards, and davenports of America's fashionable parlors as the tickertape machines spewed out the news of losses? In many of those rooms of the newly poor, it was probably this October 25, 1929 issue of Life with the caption "I'd die for dear old Rutgers!"


Maybe she's just cold (note that she's wearing her boyfriend's letter sweater around her neck, not a scarlet scarf), and maybe she's thinking about what to do with her risky portfolio of investments, or the fact that her Stutz Bearcat is burning oil, but I know that look, and I get the idea that she's worried about more important things. I get the idea from the look on her face that her beloved men in scarlet are not in the process of winning.

(1929 record (5-4-0): 9/28 Providence W 17-0; 10/5 Delaware W 19-0; 10/12 at Holy Cross L 3-20; 10/19 St. John's (MD) W 14-7; 10/26 Catholic Univ. L 10-14; 11/2 Ursinus W 19-13; 11/9 at Lafayette L 6-20; 11/16 Lehigh W 14-0; 11/23 NYU L 7-20)

I found this picture of the Life cover here, but does anyone know where you can get this as a poster?

I also think that we need to start dressing better for our modern games. Maybe at Homecoming we can all start wearing blazers and scarlet ties and dresses and heels. (Or not.)

1 comment:

The Minister of Things said...

I'd love a poster of this. If you can figure it out, I'll take one.