Monday, February 29, 2016

Comics: Timely Comics Moved to the Empire State Building in the Summer of 1943



…The company was founded in 1939 as Timely Publications, based at his existing company in the McGraw-Hill Building at 330 West 42nd Street in New York City. In 1942, it moved to the 14th floor of the Empire State Building, where it remained until 1951. 
...The Empire State Building also played a special role in Marvel’s real-life history. From 1942 to 1951, Timely Comics, the company now known as Marvel, was based on the building’s fourteenth floor.
Simon and Schuster, 2007


Timely Comics move from the McGraw-Hill Building to the Empire State Building happened later according to The New York Sun, July 14, 1943:
New Tenants Listed
H. Hamilton Weber, rental manager of Empire State, Inc., reports leases of large space on the eighteenth floor of the Empire State Building to Scott & Williams, Inc., machinery dealers. Other new tenants include Mayer & Alex Oliver, hosiery; Joseph M. Fried land, hosiery; Guilford Hosiery Mills, Inc.; Virginia Maid Hosiery Mills, Inc.; Walter J. McChesney, hosiery; Hatch Full-Fashioned Hosiery Company, Edward Roskind, hosiery; Mack Manufacturing Corporation; Talon, Inc.; National Economic Council, Inc.; Henry W. Sharkey, C. P A.; Noah Bass & Co., C. P. A., and to Timely Comics, Inc., publishers.
Below are the article and part of the The New York Sun page with the date and page number.




UPDATE 1

Manhattan, New York City, Telephone Directory
December 1942, New York Telephone Company
Page 997: Timely Comics Inc 330 W 42…….BR yant 9-5965

(McGraw-Hill address)



Manhattan, New York City, Telephone Directory
December 1942, New York Telephone Company
Page 390: Goodman Martin pubr 330 W 42…….BR yant 9-5965
(McGraw-Hill address)


Manhattan, New York City, Telephone Directory
Summer–Fall 1943, New York Telephone Company
Page 1013: Timely Comics Inc 350 5 Av…….BR yant 9-5965

(Empire State Building address)



Manhattan, New York City, Telephone Directory
Summer–Fall 1943, New York Telephone Company
Page 395: Goodman Martin pubr 350 5 Av…….BR yant 9-5965
(Empire State Building address)


UPDATE 2

In Alter Ego #11, November 2001, Vince Fago was interviewed by Jim Amash who asked, “How did you become the editor-in-chief? who hired you—Stan or Martin Goodman?” Fago answered
Stan hired me, because he got drafted. [Stan Lee enlisted in the Army on November 9, 1942.] He says, “How would you like to take my job?” I said I’d have to think about it….

I started editing when Timely moved from the McGraw-Hill Building to the Empire State Building. I think that was in August of 1942. Christmas of ’42, I received a $300 bonus, so I was editor by that time. Stan never really worked as an editor in the Empire State Building until after the war. I was the editor when we moved.
Fago thought 1942 was the year that Timely moved but it was 1943.


UPDATE 3

Writer’s Digest, June 1943, page 42:
Martin Goodman’s magazines have left the crowded old offices in the McGraw-Hill Building at 330 West 42nd Street, and have moved in two different directions.

The comics (Timely Comics, Inc.) now located in spacious new offices in the Empire State Building, 34th Street and Fifth Avenue. ... 

Further Reading
Marvel revives Timely Comics imprint.


(Updated June 21, 2023; next post on Monday: Timber Wolf)

Monday, February 22, 2016

Lettering and Typography: Chinese Beverages


Monkey King Belly Washers
Guangzhou, China, 2005



Coca-Cola
Guangzhou, China, 2005




Coca-Cola
Hong Kong, 2005
Disneyland Opening




Asia Sarsae (Root Beer)
Guangzhou, China, 2015


Watson’s Sarsae (Root Beer)
Guangzhou, China, 2015



Guangzhou, China, 2015




Tea
Guangzhou, China, 2015


Tea
Guangzhou, China, 2015



Monday, February 15, 2016

Lettering and Typography: Boston Chinese Restaurants


70 Beach Street
 

8 Tyler Street

Hon Hong Low
25 Tyler Street

Medical Aid for China
87 Beacon Street
(not a restaurant)

The Good Earth
5 Tyler Street
Postcard
Business Card

Empire Garden Restaurant
690 Washington Street
former theater

(Next post on Monday: Chinese Beverages)

Monday, February 8, 2016

Year of the Monkey, 4714


Happy New Year
Yen Liang
J.B. Lippincott Company, 1961
Front and back covers

Johnson Smith & Company Catalog No. 148
1938, back cover

February 8, 2016 begins the Year of the Monkey, 4714

(Next post on Monday: Boston Chinese Restaurants)


Monday, February 1, 2016

Under Cover: Harlin Quist Books 1998


The 24-page books are 6.1875 inches / 15.72 centimeters square.

The Alligator and the Crocodile
by Kaye Saari and Henri Galeron

Dracula Spectacula
by John Goldthwaite and Nicole Claveloux

The Kidnapping of the Coffee Pot
by David McNeil and Jean-Pierre Lyonnet

(Next post on Monday: Year of the Monkey, 4714)