Getting Around Old Wien part 4

 

Lesson No. 38
(1910 Österreichisches Autofahrerhandbuch * )

                            When confronted with a steep incline

                            and no horse can be put before the auto,
                            brute manpower may be the only solution. 

Postmarked from Wien, Austria 27 June 1904.

This comic postcard was created by Fritz Schönpflug (1873 – 1951), a Viennese artist who produced hundreds of amusing caricatures of life in the era of the Austrian-Hungarian Empire. I've featured his work many times on this blog and this post returns to his series on automobiles. The previous one was in May 2022, Getting Around Old Wien part 3.    

* * *

Scientific America,
cover 13 January 1906
Source: Internet Archive

 

Lesson No. 171
(1910 Österreichisches Autofahrerhandbuch)

                    To properly distinguish which end
                    of the Radmutternschlüssel to use
                    on the Stoßdämpferbaugruppe of your Kraftfahrzeuge,
                    please consult the manual or an expert mechanic find.

Hand dated 10 December 1904.

* * *

Automobile diagram from
"Audels answers on automobiles,
for owners, operators, repairmen" — 1912
Source: Internet Archive

 

Lesson No. 212
(1910 Österreichisches Autofahrerhandbuch)

                            When off the beaten track or in unfamiliar country villages

                            it is important to master the three-point turn

                            or risk driving persons or animals around the bend. 

Postmarked from Groß Flottbek, Germany in Hamburg 21 June 1904.

* * *

Sixty Miles an Hour by Frederic W. Hager,
sheet music cover 1910
Source: International Music Score Library Project (IMSLP)

Popular Mechanics,
cover April 1910
Source: Internet Archive

Lesson No. 14
(1910 Österreichisches Autofahrerhandbuch)

                            During the first time operating an auto one must remember
                            both hands remain on the Lenkrad at all times, 
                            the Gaspedal not to press excessive, while the other foot ready always
                            to activate the Kupplung or Bremsen for vehicle safely to halt. 
                            The driver must stay alert and avoid distracting Geschnatter with passengers.

Postmarked from Wien, Austria 26 May 1930.

* * *

Saturday Evening Post,
cover 15 June 1912
Source: Internet Archive

The Pierce-Arrow Motor Car Co.,
advertisement 1909
Source: Internet Archive

Lesson No. 1,736
(1910 Österreichisches Autofahrerhandbuch)

                            A good motorist respects the rights of other drivers no matter
                            if they are operating old-fashioned vehicles at slow speeds
                            or engaging in unexpected maneuvers in the roadway.  
                            Pass with care, steer clear of obstacles, and avoid antagonizing behavior.

Unposted but dated [1]910 by Fritz Schönpflug next to his signature.

*I apologize if any readers have attempted to find this work online
but the "1910 Österreichisches Autofahrerhandbuch" is entirely a figment of my imagination.

The Peerless Motor Car Co.,
advertisement 1908
Source: Internet Archive

Klaxon Automobile Horns,
advertisement 1910
Source: Internet Archive

   The KLAXON is the most effective safeguard against collision ever devised.
   The penetrating KLAXON blast is audible to another driver a quarter to half a mile ahead, and on water from one to two miles.  It resembles no other created sound.  It is purposely harsh and startling, for a harsh note has a natural warning quality lacking in musical notes.
   The driver who hears a KLAXON does not stop to think:  he turns to his side of the road involuntarily and promptly. 

But words are not enough.
To best appreciate
the superior qualities
of a KLAXON horn
one must listen to its sound.

But not too close.

Sound familiar?

Dayton, OH Herald
29 January 1930

Henry Fillmore (1881- 1956) was an American composer and bandleader, famous for his exhilarating circus marches. In 1929 he composed "The Klaxon" subtitled "March of the Automobiles" for the 1930 Cincinnati Auto Show dedicating it “to the producers of the Klaxon Automobile Horns." For the event in Cincinnati, Fillmore commissioned a novelty instrument from the Klaxon department of the Delco-Remy Corp. that he called the "klaxophone". It had 12 specially tuned automobile horns fixed to a table and powered by a car battery. It was played over a nationwide radio broadcast in January 1930. The march proved so popular that Fillmore and his band took it on the road. 

Here is a splendid performance of The Klaxon.

played by the United States Army Field Band

as part of a concert give in April 2020.

Apparently the U. S. Army Field Band
doesn't have a klaxophone in its arsenal. 

 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where everyone is on a road trip this weekend.

Das Auto, part 4

Who were these strange people
dressed in outlandish costumes? 
Were they natives of some remote
northern region of the world?
Did their goggles protect them
from frigid arctic winds or
shield them from blinding blizzards?

Could they be aliens from another planet?
Were those weird metal horns some kind of
musical instrument or a weapon?
Even their little animal companions
look bizarre and a bit scary.  

No, they were not pictures of monsters or foreigners. They were crazy cartoons of ordinary German couples who were preparing to go for a ride in their new automobile. Evidently they drove very powerful cars as the postcards are captioned: 100 H. P. and 80 H. P.  

They were figments of the vivid imagination of Arthur Thiele (1860 – 1936), a prolific German postcard artist whose work I have featured many times on this blog. This is the fourth and final installment of a series I call Das Auto which presents Thiele's suite of six postcards on a theme of motorists  indulging in extravagant and plainly silly outfits for their motoring. It was a 1900s fashion trend shared throughout Europe and much of America too.  

My first story, Das Auto, part 1, started out-of-order from Thiele's progression with a card portraying 40 H. P.  This was followed by Das Auto, part 2, which presented 10 H. P. and 20 H. P.. And then in May 2024  Das Auto, part 3 showcased 60 H. P..  Even a casual reader could guess where this was going. Automobiles were still a novelty in the first decade of the 20th century but already motoring enthusiasts were demanding "more power" from their vehicles which made them a target of mockery from clever artists like Arthur Thiele.

In fact these motorists' wacky apparel was a practical answer to problems with the first automobile designs. The first motorized autos were patterned off horse-drawn carriages and had canvas coverings or just open tops. Since even 10 horsepower engines could propel a car faster than a team of horses, drivers and passengers were exposed to the elements and subject to extremes of heat and cold that had never been felt before. 

When Thiele published this series in 1908 automobiles typically had petrol and diesel engines that could produce a range of horsepower from around 10 to 60 hp depending on price. Horsepower was a new novelty term that few people understood. But to rich upper class society people more  horses had to be better, so Thiele makes a joke about how with more power, like 80 and 100 H. P., speed would increase enough to freeze toes, fingers, and noses too. It's an uncomfortable cooling phenomena that I learned about when I bought my first motorcycle. Since in the 1900s the automobile heater had not yet been invented, much less included as standard equipment on a car, other companies rushed in to manufacture suitable climate change accessories for motorists. 

Motor
1906 January

The Scandinavian Fur & Leather Co, of New York advertised in Motor, the monthly magazine for automobile aficionados, that its Scandinavian Motor Apparel for Winter Wear "is known throughout the world." Except maybe in Australia, India, and the Caribbean. Their fur coats look quite sturdy and warm, though maybe not as heavyweight as those worn by Thiele's motorists. 

The 100 H. P. postcard was sent from Dresden across town to someone staying at the Hotel du Nord in Dresden by G. S., A. S. and W. S. on 15 June 1908.

Motor 
1907 December

In 1907 Motor magazine devoted a whole page to a piece entitled "Rough Furs for Winter Motor Garb." The writer discusses the need for proper outer clothing when taking houseguests to the theater in the wintertime. These coats needed to be large enough with extra wide sleaves for a person to put on over their regular evening garments. Buttons were larger to make it easier to fasten when wearing gloves. Fur pelts like grey squirrel, opossum, muskrat, raccoons, and Russian pony were commonly used, while sealskin, leopard, sable, and broadtail, a wavy, moiré-like pelt of a young or stillborn Karakul lamb baby lamb, were available on special order for more discerning motorists.

Motor 
1906 February

Hats and veils suitable for riding in an open automobile were another important fashion accessory for every motoring woman. The sudden changes of wind direction when driving around a city street or country road made it very challenging to keep your hat on, even with traditional long hat pins. In 1905 the Boehm & Levine company of New York took out a patent for their Mon Bijou head attire that was "absolutely dust proof". The wind in an automobile also stirred up a lot of dust and dirt from road surfaces. No respectable lady wanted to see her bonnet trashed or her feathers in a twist when arriving at her destination. A full face veil was the most practical solution.

The 80 H. P. postcard was sent from Paris on 24 Août (August) 1908. There is no postmark so the card went with a letter or package. The handwriting is reasonably clear but the combination of letters in French, especially vowels that look like consonants, made it a difficult puzzle for me so I gave up. I do know that the writer's first line refers to arriving in Paris after traveling for 4 hours. Her name was Emma Leroy(?) and her flat at 47 Rue du Rocher is still there with decorative  ironwork on the entrance to the five story building so typical of Paris.  

Motor 
1906 January

For gentlemen there were special head and face gear too. The Scott Muffler Co. of Portsmouth, Ohio offered their "all in one piece" mufflers that protected the face, ears, neck, and chest. "Makes zero weather pleasant." 

 

Motor 
1906 January

In January 1906 the Ball-Fintze Co of Newark, Ohio advertised the Avalon Storm Apron which was a rubberized cloth that draped across an automobile's passenger compartment. It offered protection against storms and bad weather with holes for one to five people. They also offered Weed Chain Tire Grips to prevent skidding and assist in traction on muddy roads.

Motor Age
1907 December

The two men in Thiele's postcards hold strange horns. The 100 H. P. long instrument looks not unlike a brass alphorn and the 80 H. P. instrument is an unusual four valve four bell horn. Though they are exaggerated in size they were just another useful motoring accessory that filled a need not included by the automobile manufacturers. Soon after they were introduced to the world, automobiles and their drivers were recognized as being dangerous to pedestrians, horses, and other drivers. Many communities demanded that drivers announce themselves with a loud bugle horn when driving in certain situations like rounding a blind curve or entering an intersection. Some were pneumatic devices like the No. 19 La Bassoon oval horn and the Leavitt Siren Horn which were advertised in the December 1907 edition of Motor Age magazine. The sound was produced by a brass reed like on a harmonica or toy noisemaker which I think was the same method used in the horns depicted in Thiele's cartoons. 

Life
1909 April

The early motorists of the 1900s endured a lot of misadventures as they learned how to operate an automobile. Every driver was expected to understand the mechanics of their machine. Otherwise they were likely one day to find themselves stranded far from home like in this illustration from Life magazine. A broken part could force a man to get out and get under just in order to fix his car.

The travails of modern motoring, especially in winter, were a source of much amusement in America as in Germany.  

Life
1909 January 7

                                                                Getting Even

    Autoist (who has paid boy to bring assistance):   Did you give the farmer my message, boy?

    Boy:  Yep;  I told him ther'  wuz four automobeelers stuck in a driff'  an'  cuddent git out.

                                                             "What did he say?

                                                             "He said 'HOORAY,'  an'  gimme another quarter."

Life
1909 April

And when all else failed,
a motorist could still depend
on real horse power
to get their auto
back to its stable garage. 

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where no matter how old it is

a photo can still have that new-car scent.

When Things Go Wrong

 

From time to time
everyone suffers an accident.
It's bad luck. It's fate.
It's life.

And after every accident
we are forced to puzzle over
how it happened.
Did something break?
Was some idiot not looking? 
Could it be my fault? 

Nahhh!
Sometimes it's just

Panne désespérée
~ 
Desperate failure

In this colorful picture an automobile appears to have struck something that has left its front wheels askew. The driver and two male companions mull over the cause while in the back seat a female passenger nonchalantly checks her hair and hat.  

The artist is Fritz Schönpflug (1873–1951), an Austrian postcard illustrator whose keen eye painted hundreds of clever caricatures of the people living in his native city of Wien (Vienna) during the last years of the Hapsburg Empire. Check this Schönpflug link for more of my stories on his postcards.

His playful cartoon was poking fun at a relatively new recreation in Wien at the time, riding around town in a motorcar. In the 1900s the automobile was a luxury vehicle designed to compete with horse-drawn carriages that for centuries had conveyed wealthy people around city streets. But, like any novel invention, as soon as people adopt a new thing, they figure out ways to get into trouble. The breakdown or crash of an automobile was not unlike similar accidents with horses and wagons. But for Schönpflug the fun was watching people try to figure out what went wrong.

This postcard was sent on 3 July 1913 from Glons, a village of Wallonia located in the province of Liège, Belgium.

* * *

Sometimes a mishap
thankfully involves
no one else but ourselves.
The accident then produces
a moment of quiet reflection
as we contemplate our brush with destiny. 
What is our purpose in life?
Or,

Kdybych jen věděl, co ten uzel má znamenat! 

~
If only I knew what that knot was supposed to mean!

A poor fellow is hung up in a tree branch after crashing his car into it. Since he is speaking Czech there may something lost in the translation of the punchline, but I think it refers to the way some people used to tie a knot in a handkerchief to remind them of some task or appointment.  

The artist of this postcard is Carl Robert Arthur Thiele (1860 – 1936), also known as Arthur Thiele. He was a contemporary of Fritz Schönpflug but came from Leipzig, Germany. I've featured a lot of his humorous postcards on this blog. Check out more under the Thiele label. Thiele (pronounced "Tee-la") was very prolific and produced thousands of different scenes in series with different themes. This card is part of a set made in the late 1920s or early 30s. This particular card has a typewritten address and handwritten message in Czech but no postmark. However the writer did include date numbers 1/10-30 for 1 October 1930. 

* * *

Typically it's the bumps in the road
that trip us up most often.
In those instances
it's always best to keep
a firm hold on the situation. 

One reason I love Fritz Schönpflug's illustrations is that his pictures beautifully capture motion which photographs at the time were unable to do. In this postcard an open-top motorcar has just hit a stone road marker tossing the driver and his passengers into the air. Like the previous cartoon, Schönpflug and Thiele do not portray car accidents as horrific as they became in our modern era. Of course the speed and weight of vehicles was then much lower than it is today resulting in more injuries than deaths.

This card was never posted but Schönpflug's signature has 904 after it which stands for 1904. 

* * *

It's a universal truth
that the best lessons in life 

come when we have a narrow escape
from a terrible accident.
This is especially true
when a close friend is involved.

Quel bonheur!  Tu as échappé au massacre! 

~

What a joy! You escaped the massacre!

This illustration shows a pretty young lady on the roadway after her automobile has slammed into a utility pole. As she struggles to get up, she sees that her teddy bear is dazed but unharmed. The person who sent the card added a little stick figure and caption to the picture but I couldn't translate the word. 

This postcard was also painted by Arthur Thiele and is possibly a companion to the previous one in the same series. The card was sent from Brussel~Bruxelles, Belgium on 29 June 1934. 

To demonstrate how civil authorities in other parts of the world
responded to the increasing problems of automobile accidents
here is a British Pathé road safety film entitled
The Other Man Reel 2 (1950-1959).

It begins with a rather officious British constable and halfway through
changes to children in toy cars and an example of a careless driver.

For more entertainment value, again courtesy of British Pathé,

here is an American 1949 public service short
filmed in Los Angeles, California.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where something old is always something new.

Riding Around in Mason City, Iowa

 

It's that double-take we all do.
You are out and about  
and another vehicle drives past.
Suddenly you catch a glimpse
of something out of the ordinary.
Was that fella holding a tuba?

Or maybe it's just the odd face of a stranger
that makes you shake your head.
Was that guy for real?

Today I present some postcards
of curious automobile scenes
that people once encountered
in Mason City, Iowa.

.  

The first is a photo of a large open top bus carrying at least 16 men who sit on four bench seats. It would be a tight fit even without their musical instruments as on either side of the driver is a trombonist and a tuba player and behind them are men with a tenor horn, mellophone and a snare drum. The men are dressed in ordinary business suits and most wear bowler hats, According to the caption they are the Mason City Band in Mason City, Iowa. The photographer's name is Washburn.  

Mason City is the county seat of Cerro Gordo County in north central Iowa. In 1910 it had a population of 11,230 residents which included a young boy named Meredith Willson who became a very successful flautist, composer, conductor, music arranger, bandleader, playwright, and author. Meredith Willson is best remembered for his musical, The Music Man, which he wrote as a tribute to his home town and state. The show premiered on Broadway in 1957, and has been adapted twice for film in 1962 and 2003. Many of the characters in it were based on people Willson knew from his childhood in Mason City.

                                                                4/13/09
                                    Dear Lew:
                                                Some one is looking
                                    for a letter.  Do you suppose
                                    someone will get it to-
                                    morrow?  May I?
                                    Isn't this a bright happy
                                    Spring day!  but say I do need
                                    that letter.  Ho! Ho!  "Bet I do"
                                    Are you busy  busy busy today?
                                    Or have you got another tele? (?)
                                                                            William

                                                    This is one of
                                                    our City Bands.
                                                    Are to have
                                                    only 2 this
                                                    year as well
                                                    as a Boys Band
                                                    up the M. Y.
                                                    It truly makes
                                                    me sick  Ha! Ha!

Longtime readers may remember this band before as I featured a colorized version ten years ago in my story The Mason City Band from January 2014. 

This postcard is identical to the first but is a color halftone print that is not as clear as the photo postcard. It also has some abrasion that diminishes its quality but the 1910 postmark and message make up for that. 

The front of the bus has the marque The Overland for the Overland Automobile Company, of Terre Haute, Indiana, which began building motorcars in 1903. The company was sold in 1908 to John North Willys  who renamed it the Willys-Overland company, which became best known in World War 2 as the manufacturer of the all purpose military vehicle, the Jeep. Notice that the rear axle has a chain drive and on the front right is a brass horn not unlike a miniature tuba.

                            Dear  Son   I am at Mason
                            today it has been raining
                            for some days but it is
                            clear this morning I have
                            been trying to start
                            home for a week but have
                            not got started yet but
                            I am going to start Mon
                            shure am going back to
                            Rockwell this afternoon
                            going out Home tomorrow and
                            start home at 6 ...day Mom ur.. love

My third automobile photo has no musicians but the driver is an old geezer who would attract anyone's attention if he drove past. He is seated in a open top runabout with an American flag mounted on the front. His alarming face is actually a crude mask with whiskers so he may be  participating in a patriotic parade like for July 4th. Behind him is a loading dock and a horse-drawn wagon with the words BOTT_NG WORK painted on the side. 

I recently acquired this postcard for its uncanny resemblance to a photo of my great grandfather William Dobbin that I featured last year in Car Stories, the Rural Mail Carrier. 

Both cars are, I believe, a Maxwell Model LD. My great grandfather used it for his job as a rural mail carrier in Glenwood, Minnesota. The location of this other masked driver suggests that perhaps he used it as a delivery car, too. What amazed me when I compared the two cars is that William Dobbin's Minnesota number plate is 73733 and the other car's plate has 73750 with IA for Iowa. How cool is that? 

                            Mason City
                                Oct 5, 14.
                            Can you recognize
                            who this is   you
                            saw him before
                            Guess Who.

The seller added a note: 

                                    Hub Bottling Works
                  215  W. Fifth

The writer included "Mason City" next to the date but there is a Mason City in Ohio, Illinois, Nebraska, and West Virginia as well as Iowa. But this puzzle was easy to solve using the city directories available on Ancestry.com. In the 1914 city directory for Mason City, Iowa has a listing for:

                        HUB BOTTLING WORKS (Thomas F Cain, Joseph F Cibuzar).
                                Mnfrs of Hub Brand Soda Water and Jobbers of
                                Ciders and Soda Fountain Supplies, 215 W. 5th, Tel 739.

1914 city directory for Mason City, Iowa

On my first real photo postcard of the Mason City Band the writer William mentions a boys band. This next postcard is surely the one he was referring to. It's a photo of a boys' band from the I.O.O.F. — International Order of Odd Fellows orphans home in Mason City. The initials FLT on the drumhead are the fraternal order's "Triple Links" symbol for its motto "Friendship, Love and Truth". The photographer was the same Mr. Washburn who took the photo of the Mason City band.

 I have several photos of this boys' band and I featured three in a story The Orphans Home Band of Mason City, Iowa which I wrote way back in January 2011. They were produced in around 1910 and on the back of one postcard were all the names of the boys. It was this rare annotation that inspired my first efforts at researching genealogy and musical history. As it predates my joining Sepia Saturday, very few people have read it. I've been pleased that the few comments I've received were from people who were once residents at the I.O.O.F. home when they were children. 

In February 2015 I wrote a story on a similar photo of a girls' mandolin/guitar "orchestra" at the orphanage, The Iowa I.O.O.F. Orphans Home Orchestra. That story was updated in 2018 with two more photos of the home's string ensembles. Mason City was clearly a very musical place in the 1910s so it's not surprising that the town's music traditions influenced the young Meredith Willson.  

I'll close with this clip
from Meredith Willson's 1962 film
"The Music Man" starring Robert Preston & Shirley Jones

It's the opening scene subtitled Rock Island. 
It's my favorite bit in the musical.

Want to bet that the old geezer
in the Maxwell runabout
was a member of Mason City's
Odd Fellows lodge?

I think he knew the territory, too.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where parking might be a problem this weekend.