Odds and Ends

 For no particular reason, here are various articles and ads from old magazines, and one pic from about 1966.  LOL...because I CAN.

Coulda been!

 There's a really cool website called Critical Past where you can "search over 57,000 videos and 7 million images".  It's definitely a fascinating site.


Larry found this short film  there, from 1918.  The occasion was a Ford tractor demo day in a 'farming area of the United States'.  (Can you imagine the amazement that day?  Not only new powerful machines to do the work on the farm, but a moving picture camera was recording it all.  No wonder grandpa Janson had such high hopes for the 20th century!)
The set up is a tug-o-war between a tractor and about 20 men (who lose, of course).  But this gentleman evidently used the megaphone to direct the action.  It struck Larry that he looked like grandpa Anton Janson--small stature, curly hair, glasses, shirt and tie...
Yeah, I CAN hear your skepticism from here.  Ahem. You need to work on hiding it better...☺
BUT, we know some filming was done on farms around  Pierz in those years because we found an archival listing online mentioning Pierz and a farmer named Gau ("A SON OF THE SOIL- TAKEN ON HENRY GAU'S HORSELESS FARM NEAR PIERZ, MINNESOTA, ca. 1920"--National Archives, online).

Anyway, even if you think we're nuts, it's fun to view a few of those old films at Critical Past.  They're listed by decade, and there are quite a few from WWII.  The opening page montage gives you a pretty good idea.


You're welcome.