Mei Man: I drew Superman during the Great Depression

Chapter 6 Taking pictures
It's a pity that the news of the film's release is at the end of January.

But now it is already mid-November, the timeliness of news has long passed, and the possibility of hype has also been lost.

Colin did know that after "City Lights", Chaplin made another silent film in the next six years, and it was also Chaplin's last silent film-"Modern Times".

And, after watching the movie, Einstein shed tears again.

But that was all after 1936, and it has no effect on the current difficulties encountered by the Courier newspaper.

While thinking, Colin glanced over the newspaper's report on the movie, and soon fell elsewhere.

"...No one is actually starving, these homeless people are eating better than before...In New York, a homeless person eats 10 meals a day."

Immediately afterwards, his eyes were attracted by the huge words on the newspaper page.

"Who is so brave, dare to say such things in this period? Oh, it turned out to be Hoover, then it's okay..."

A trace of doubt flashed in his mind, and when Colin saw clearly the source of the news content, he suddenly became a little clearer.

Speaking of Hoover, this is simply the most unlucky president in American history.

He happened to become president on the eve of the Great Depression, and the public's dissatisfaction and anger about the Great Depression all vented on Hoover.As a result, Hoover's name has been equated with "poverty" for a long time in the future.

During the Great Depression, people called the dilapidated shantytowns built with tin cans, cardboard and sacks "Hoovervilles"; the sacks of waste carried by unemployed groups were called "Hoover bags"; , impoverished farmers saw off the front of a broken-down cheap car and put it on a scrawny mule, called a "Hoover wagon"; park bench sleepers wrapped in old newspapers for warmth, called a "Hoover blanket" and many more.

From the perspective of future history, Hoover's presidency can be said to be bad luck.

However, now that he is in the Great Depression, Colin can somewhat understand why the people of this era have so much resentment and dissatisfaction with Hoover.

Especially in the newspapers, even Colin couldn't help frowning when he saw his answers to reporters' inquiries.

Hoover's practice of staying away from the masses during the Great Depression and his incompetent policy performance also became the main reason for his failure in the presidential election in the future.

"Wait a minute, maybe I can..."

Silently looking at the report about Hoover in the newspaper in his hand, Colin's eyes gradually changed a bit.

"Little John."

Putting down the old newspaper in his hand, Colin immediately yelled.

"I'm here!"

Hearing his name, Little John, standing next to the typesetting machine, subconsciously grabbed the camera and responded.

He walked to the desk in three steps at a time, looked at Ke Lin who was sitting behind the desk, swallowed subconsciously, and said with a disturbed expression, "What do you want, boss?"

clap clap-

In front of the typesetting machine, Old John moved his hands quickly on the keyboard, but his eyes moved involuntarily to the direction of the desk.

"I hope you can help..."

Reaching out his hand, he rummaged through his pocket a few times, picked out a few half-new coins and pushed them in front of Little John. Colin whispered a few words.

At the desk, after listening to Colin's instructions, Little John looked up at him in surprise, then quickly lowered his head, put away the coins on the table and replied in a muffled voice.

"Understood, boss, I'll go right away."

Watching Little John's back leave the newspaper office, old John, who was sitting in front of the typesetting machine, had a puzzled look in his eyes.

However, before he could say anything, Colin who was sitting behind the desk had already opened his mouth and asked him, "Old John, do you know how to contact those newsboys?"

"Newsboy?"

Facing Colin's inquiry, Old John blinked his eyes behind the brass presbyopic glasses, stopped his hands on the keyboard and said, "Generally, newspaper offices don't need to contact newsboys. On publication day, they will come to buy newspapers by themselves.”

In this era, the relationship between newsboys and newspaper offices is similar to that between manufacturers and wholesalers.

Newsboys are not employees of the newspaper office. Instead, they need to wholesale a bundle of newspapers from the courier or newspaper office at a price of 70 cents per bundle, and then disassemble them and sell them individually to pedestrians on the road at a price of 2 cents each. , so as to earn a meager price difference to survive.

This is why newsboys care about the sales of the Courier.

Once the newspapers cannot be sold, they will lose money. Some newsboys have to work late into the night in order to make money.

"Is there any other way to let these newsboys meet me immediately?"

The day of the week?

Ke Lin didn't think that with the current situation of the Messenger newspaper, there was still time to last until the weekend when the newspaper was published.

"This...let me think..."

Faced with Colin's request, Old John hesitated for a moment before saying, "I know a delivery man, and he may have a way to find those newsboys."

Hearing this, Colin nodded.

At this time, the closed door of the newspaper office was opened from the outside, and it was Little John who came back.

So fast? !

Looking at Little John who had returned to the newspaper office, Old John couldn't help showing a surprised expression on his face.

It was only eleven or twelve minutes from when he went out to when he came back.

"Did you get it?"

Regarding this, Ke Lin didn't have any surprise on his face, but asked calmly.

"It's taken."

Nodding, Little John raised the camera in his hand and replied in a muffled voice: "I followed the boss's instructions, and after taking the photo, I immediately gave the cake to that family."

The cake that Little John was talking about was naturally not the kind of cake that people in later generations are familiar with.

"Three Noes" cake, this is a special food that was only invented during the Great Depression. When people did not have the three traditional ingredients of "milk, eggs and butter" to make cakes, they used water instead of milk. Baking powder was used instead of eggs and vegetable oil was used instead of butter.These three things are mixed together with flour, a small amount of sugar, and various spices, and the cheap food is baked.

The "cake" under this method naturally cannot expect too much in terms of taste.

The only role it can play is to fill the stomach.

For the poor people living in the Great Depression, filling their stomachs is the most important thing. As for what tastes bad, it is simply not within their scope of consideration.

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(End of this chapter)