Six years ago at the blog -- reposted just because it's cool

The phrase "those thrilling days of yesteryear" became part of the popular vernacular a few years after the turn of the century daredevils described below thanks to the introduction to the Lone Ranger radio show.

On a related note, a few years later various people including Dan Rather were credited with the observation that an intellectual was someone who could hear the William Tell Overture and not think of the Lone Ranger. 

Now hearing the piece and thinking about the masked man just means that you're old.

Friday, May 11, 2018

"Those thrilling days of yesteryear"

 
I keep getting the feeling that there is some bigger, more profound lesson I should be drawing from these examples of the turn-of-the-century fascination with stunts and daredevils. Surely, the desire to see men and women (there was a surprising degree of gender balance) risk their lives in these elaborate contraptions tells us something about the mentality of the time, but damned if I know what it is.

I do know, however, that these pictures from Scientific American (1903/07/18 and 1905/10/14) were  simply too cool not to post.

And for those of you who caught the title reference...