1934
IT HAPPENED IN…1934
Winter cold, summer heat, a Midwest drought, and
dust storms drove many farmers to migrate to California.
The Federal Farm Bankruptcy Act put a moratorium on farm
mortgage foreclosures.
Newly introduced products and inventions included
nylon, semi-automatic rifles, the Hammond organ, Seagram’s 7
Whiskey, and canned beer.
Pepsi-Cola introduced 12 ounce bottles,
advertising them as “Twice as much for a nickel!”
The use of Applied Color Labels on soft drink
bottles was introduced.
6,460 U.S. soft drink bottling plants were in
operation. Per capita
consumption was 31.9 bottles.
Mailing in this advertisement’s coupon brought the sender a sample of
Hires Extract, plus a Hires Magic
Story booklet.
(Figure 1934-01, Sunday
newspapers, June 10, 1934)
The 12 page Hires
Magic Story booklet was designed to draw children’s attention and
promote Hires extracts. The
illustrated story featured “White Birch,” an Indian girl, a “little
English boy called ‘Ginger,’” and “’Rooty, a healthy, happy boy of today
who is playing baseball in the ‘City of Brotherly Love…After the game
‘Rooty’ always brought the ‘gang’ around to the house for a drink of
Hires R-J Root Beer…Rooty’s mother always had a supply…in the ice box.”
Each page’s magic words could be revealed by rubbing “the lower
part of each page with a coin, spoon or pencil.”
(Figure
1934-02, Hires
Magic Story booklet, 12 pages, front cover, 4.0” x
7.0”)
J.
Edgar Hires’ name appeared in Philadelphia’s
Public Ledger in the summer of
1934:
OCEAN CITY YACHT CLUB NOMINATES
OFFICERS
J. Edgar Hires Slated to Succeed
Himself as Commodore
Ocean City, Aug. 11.
J. Edgar Hires, of Philadelphia, was nominated tonight to
succeed himself as commodore of the Ocean City Yacht Club at the
annual election to be held August 26.
He was unopposed.