Old newspaper ads - Banque de Montreal

Do you need money?

The early days of expanding post-war credit. I like the portraits of the various types of people to whom the bank of Montreal will lend money.

The text says:

The Bank of Montreal recognizes that in certain circumstances, the need to borrow exists for a labourer, a clerk, a professional as well as a business.

Every day, we give personal as well as commercial loans. We welcome the borrower (or borrow-euese :)) looking for personal credit, giving the easiest conditions banking regulations allow:

$3.65 only per $100 - with 12 equal monthly payments - nothing more.

You shouldn't hesitate to expose your needs with a manager of your local branch. All transactions are strictly confidential.

BANK OF MONTREAL
The bank that truly welcomes small depositors
54 branches in Greater Montreal

A modern and experienced bank... fruit of 123 years of profitable operations

Old newspaper ads - Pond's "Lips" lipstick

Be the woman of his dreams! This one is really quite nice, with the spider of love (who doesn't have bad lips herself) slowly weaving her web around the couple as they embrace and he enjoys the softness and consistency of the lanoline in her lipstick.



You may have to widen your browser window to see all of this more horizontal ad. My apologies for the bleached out look, but I had to crank the contrast to make the images come out clearly. It was quite faded!

Old newspaper ads - Pharmacie Montreal

Not as exciting an ad graphically this time, but I think maybe more historically interesting. There were several pharmacy ads and they all advertised 24 hour night and day delivery. Was that something quite in demand at the time? I wonder what happened to the Pharmacie Montreal ("the biggest retail pharmacie in the world"). Did it turn into Jean-Coutu? PharmaPrix?

Actually, I take it back about this ad not being so exciting graphically. I really dig those little illustrations!

Old newspaper ads - Black Magic Chocolates

This one really resonated with me because as a child growing up in Vancouver Island, Black Magic chocolates were the default xmas gift you gave to somebody you didn't know very well or to some secondary family member. Invariably, on xmas day there would be two or three boxes of Black Magic floating around under the tree. What was nice about them was that they weren't considered "quality" by the adults which often meant that we kids could go at them, which I always did with gusto. Turtles and After Eights also often fell into this category, but there was at least one other chocolate set, almost equally popular, that was put out by Rowntree and had a similar theme, but I can't remember the name of it.

Old newspaper ads - Dow Beer

We had cable television installed in our building and the installers discovered a roof access that I didn't know existed. It led into a mostly empty airspace between the roof and the ceiling where I found a pile of dried out old newspapers. They looked very old indeed and I gingerly brought them down to my office where I discovered they were the remains of most of two days of Le Devoir from 1948. Quite a find! I took several of the full pages and had them mounted and laminated so we can put them on the wall. I got two front pages, an entertainment section (with all the old movie houses of Montreal advertised!) and a great sports section ("Le Montréal triomphe de nouveau du Jersey City"). However, there were several pages that were half-deteriorated and extremely delicate. I cut out several gorgeous advertisements from them and will scan them and share them with you here.

Here is the first one:



The title reads "Jumping from the train, he saves a child from the waves... And wins the Dow Prize!"

Dow was the big beer brand here in Montreal back in the day (they built the Dow Planetarium) until rumours went around that their beer had dangerous chemicals that made people die. It's weird because I don't think they have anything to do with Dow Chemicals. The brand never recovered (there was actually some chemicals in it used to make the head foamier that did make some people sick). Awesome ad idea here, though.

Addendum: Here is a link to the CBC archives with a really fantastic newspiece on the whole Dow story. So many great beer quotes here and just an amazing look at the state of beer drinking back in the day.

Driver Fail

Corner of St. Laurent and Laurier, Saturday around 5:30 pm.

I'll leave you to come up with the captions.

It's not the first time Concepcion, Chile has had a powerful earthquake

I'm currently reading Charles Darwin's The Voyage of the Beagle and was quite surprised to read about how he experienced a major earthquake and subsequent tidal wave while visiting Concepcion, Chile in 1832. Given the recent disaster, I think you'll find his reporting quite interesting to read:

March 4th. -- We entered the harbour of Concepcion. While the ship was beating up to the anchorage, I landed on the island of Quiriquina. The mayor-domo of the estate quickly rode down to tell me the terrible news of the great earthquake of the 20th: -- "That not a house in Concepcion or Talcahuano (the port) was standing; that seventy villages were destroyed; and that a great wave had almost washed away the ruins of Talcahuano." Of this latter statement I soon saw abundant proofs -- the whole coast being strewed over with timber and furniture as if a thousand ships had been wrecked. Besides chairs, tables, book-shelves, etc., in great numbers, there were several roofs of cottages, which had been transported almost whole. The storehouses at Talcahuano had been burst open, and great bags of cotton, yerba, and other valuable merchandise were scattered on the shore. During my walk round the island, I observed that numerous fragments of rock, which, from the marine productions adhering to them, must recently have been lying in deep water, had been cast up high on the beach; one of these was six feet long, three broad, and two thick.

The island itself as plainly showed the overwhelming power of the earthquake, as the beach did that of the consequent great wave. The ground in many parts was fissured in north and south lines, perhaps caused by the yielding of the parallel and steep sides of this narrow island. Some of the fissures near the cliffs were a yard wide. Many enormous masses had already fallen on the beach; and the inhabitants thought that when the rains commenced far greater slips would happen. The effect of the vibration on the hard primary slate, which composes the foundation of the island, was still more curious: the superficial parts of some narrow ridges were as completely shivered as if they had been blasted by gunpowder. This effect, which was rendered conspicuous by the fresh fractures and displaced soil, must be confined to near the surface, for otherwise there would not exist a block of solid rock throughout Chile; nor is this improbable, as it is known that the surface of a vibrating body is affected differently from the central part. It is, perhaps, owing to this same reason, that earthquakes do not cause quite such terrific havoc within deep mines as would be expected. I believe this convulsion has been more effectual in lessening the size of the island of Quiriquina, than the ordinary wear-and-tear of the sea and weather during the course of a whole century.

The next day I landed at Talcahuano, and afterwards rode to Concepcion. Both towns presented the most awful yet interesting spectacle I ever beheld. To a person who had formerly know them, it possibly might have been still more impressive; for the ruins were so mingled together, and the whole scene possessed so little the air of a habitable place, that it was scarcely possible to imagine its former condition. The earthquake commenced at half-past eleven o'clock in the forenoon. If it had happened in the middle of the night, the greater number of the inhabitants (which in this one province must amount to many thousands) must have perished, instead of less than a hundred: as it was, the invariable practice of running out of doors at the first trembling of the ground, alone saved them. In Concepcion each house, or row of houses, stood by itself, a heap or line of ruins; but in Talcahuano, owing to the great wave, little more than one layer of bricks, tiles, and timber with here and there part of a wall left standing, could be distinguished. From this circumstance Concepcion, although not so completely desolated, was a more terrible, and if I may so call it, picturesque sight. The first shock was very sudden. The mayor-domo at Quiriquina told me, that the first notice he received of it, was finding both the horse he rode and himself, rolling together on the ground. Rising up, he was again thrown down. He also told me that some cows which were standing on the steep side of the island were rolled into the sea. The great wave caused the destruction of many cattle; on one low island near the head of the bay, seventy animals were washed off and drowned. It is generally thought that this has been the worst earthquake ever recorded in Chile; but as the very severe ones occur only after long intervals, this cannot easily be known; nor indeed would a much worse shock have made any difference, for the ruin was now complete. Innumerable small tremblings followed the great earthquake, and within the first twelve days no less than three hundred were counted.

After viewing Concepcion, I cannot understand how the greater number of inhabitants escaped unhurt. The houses in many parts fell outwards; thus forming in the middle of the streets little hillocks of brickwork and rubbish. Mr. Rouse, the English consul, told us that he was at breakfast when the first movement warned him to run out. He had scarcely reached the middle of the court-yard, when one side of his house came thundering down. He retained presence of mind to remember, that if he once got on the top of that part which had already fallen, he would be safe. Not being able from the motion of the ground to stand, he crawled up on his hands and knees; and no sooner had he ascended this little eminence, than the other side of the house fell in, the great beams sweeping close in front of his head. With his eyes blinded, and his mouth choked with the cloud of dust which darkened the sky, at last he gained the street. As shock succeeded shock, at the interval of a few minutes, no one dared approach the shattered ruins, and no one knew whether his dearest friends and relations were not perishing from the want of help. Those who had saved any property were obliged to keep a constant watch, for thieves prowled about, and at each little trembling of the ground, with one hand they beat their breasts and cried "Misericordia!" and then with the other filched what they could from the ruins. The thatched roofs fell over the fires, and flames burst forth in all parts. Hundreds knew themselves ruined, and few had the means of providing food for the day.

Earthquakes alone are sufficient to destroy the prosperity of any country. If beneath England the now inert subterranean forces should exert those powers, which most assuredly in former geological ages they have exerted, how completely would the entire condition of the country be changed! What would become of the lofty houses, thickly packed cities, great manufactories, the beautiful public and private edifices? If the new period of disturbance were first to commence by some great earthquake in the dead of the night, how terrific would be the carnage! England would at once be bankrupt; all papers, records, and accounts would from that moment be lost. Government being unable to collect the taxes, and failing to maintain its authority, the hand of violence and rapine would remain uncontrolled. In every large town famine would go forth, pestilence and death following in its train.

Shortly after the shock, a great wave was seen from the distance of three or four miles, approaching in the middle of the bay with a smooth outline; but along the shore it tore up cottages and trees, as it swept onwards with irresistible force. At the head of the bay it broke in a fearful line of white breakers, which rushed up to a height of 23 vertical feet above the highest spring-tides. Their force must have been prodigious; for at the Fort a cannon with its carriage, estimated at four tons in weight, was moved 15 feet inwards. A schooner was left in the midst of the ruins, 200 yards from the beach. The first wave was followed by two others, which in their retreat carried away a vast wreck of floating objects. In one part of the bay, a ship was pitched high and dry on shore, was carried off, again driven on shore, and again carried off. In another part, two large vessels anchored near together were whirled about, and their cables were thrice wound round each other; though anchored at a depth of 36 feet, they were for some minutes aground. The great wave must have travelled slowly, for the inhabitants of Talcahuano had time to run up the hills behind the town; and some sailors pulled out seaward, trusting successfully to their boat riding securely over the swell, if they could reach it before it broke. One old woman with a little boy, four or five years old, ran into a boat, but there was nobody to row it out: the boat was consequently dashed against an anchor and cut in twain; the old woman was drowned, but the child was picked up some hours afterwards clinging to the wreck. Pools of salt-water were still standing amidst the ruins of the houses, and children, making boats with old tables and chairs, appeared as happy as their parents were miserable. It was, however, exceedingly interesting to observe, how much more active and cheerful all appeared than could have been expected. It was remarked with much truth, that from the destruction being universal, no one individual was humbled more than another, or could suspect his friends of coldness -- that most grievous result of the loss of wealth. Mr. Rouse, and a large party whom he kindly took under his protection, lived for the first week in a garden beneath some apple-trees. At first they were as merry as if it had been a picnic; but soon afterwards heavy rain caused much discomfort, for they were absolutely without shelter.

I pulled this quote from Literature.org. The book I'm currently reading is from the library and is quite easy to find I'm sure. It's very cool that this work is now in the public domain so that I can easily copy it and share it with others. I'm going to see if I can track down Captain Fitz Roy's version of the events now.