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Dead Thread 2021 -- If you're reading this, it isn't you.

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TIL this was a thing from the 1930s through 1950s:

orchid-crepe-burial-pump-from-the-practical-burial-footwear-v0-dtdigckcl84c1.jpg
 
Would those have been targeted toward, let's say, the po' folk wimmins who didn't own a nice pair of shoes?
 
rufus said:
Would those have been targeted toward, let's say, the po' folk wimmins who didn't own a nice pair of shoes?
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From here:

Some persons perhaps do not know that the first real shoes to be used for burial purposes were made in Decatur although there had long been so-called shoes made for such uses. The footwear in use for burials was in fact a moccasin, a knitted article something similar to what is known as a bed slipper and were made in Cincinnati. Where shoes were used for burial purposes these Cincinnati goods had the sale and were distributed by manufacturers of caskets and burial goods. Prior to 1895 Jo. G. Bixby was on the road as a salesman for the Decatur Coffin company and jobbed the moccasins made by the Cincinnati concern. It was while he was a traveling salesman that the idea came to Bixby that there should be something more nearly like a shoe to offer the trade and that it should be something that could be easily placed on the foot of a corpse.

Now he admits that he conceived the idea which has proved so successful and that he cherished the thought of engaging In the manufacturing business for a long time before he could convince himself that the trade would take kindly to the innovation. He had a good position and did not care to resign that for an uncertainty. But at last he did so and his venture was a success from the start. In speaking of the possibility of success coming to such a venture he said “Inducing a man or a people to change customs in regard to burying the dead is like inducing them to change their religion. It is slow work, an uphill job. They cling to the old customs. In the business there are progressive undertakers who easily see the advantages offered but the people whom they serve do not always see it in the same light. Before we went into the business there was nothing more than a moccasin on the market, although it was called a burial shoe. The shoes for men and women were alike except as to size.”

Putting a shoe on the foot of a corpse is a difficult task–that is adjusting an ordinary street shoe. Mr. Bixby believed that there should be offered the trade something having all of the appearance of a shoe or a slipper and at the same time be easy of adjustment. He devised and patented such an article. The principal feature of that shoe is that the quarter and the vamp are not sewed together, but make a sleeve joint, the counter or quarter fitting smoothly into the vamp. The sole is not fastened to the heel but between the heel and the front piece of the shoe there is fastened a strong elastic band which, when in its normal position is just long enough to hold the two pieces properly in place. If the shoe is a bit short the elastic band expands sufficiently to permit the fitting of the foot without in the least destroying anything of its neat appearance, because it is so constructed that when the joint is expanded the quarter and the vamp meet in such a way that the appearance is perfectly normal.

There was in opposition to this device put on the market a shoe that had at the back of the counter a gathered puff of silk concealed in which was some elastic. This of course would give if the shoe was too short but when stretched the heel of the corpse would extend beyond the sole of the shoe and be covered only by the expanded puff, while in the Bixby shoe the counter, the heel of the corpse was neatly covered by the extension being in the sole.

When the manufacture of the Bixby patent was commenced the shoe were crude affairs as compared with the ones now put on the market. They were but little more than slippers made of silk and satin, but they had on them heels and more of the appearance of shoes than the soft knit goods that had been known before. During the ten years that the business has been carried on there has been a gradual evolution in the style of the shoes made until now they have the general appearance of the shoes and slippers sold for regular street wear, and while it undoubtedly is true as Mr. Bixby has said that it is a difficult matter to get a people to change customs in burying their dead, the more nearly the burial shoe conforms to the actual street shoe in appearance, the better it sells.
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Here's a list of all the other brands ABG could theoretically kill off if they don't like management, financial results, or the terms of whatever licensing deal they have with whomever.

Just a bunch of tailored-suit lawyers, buying brand IP and manipulating the law to make millions. 'Murica.
 
Kepler said:
Wait, what? How?
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It’s been in hospice for a while now. Some equity firm bought it and skimmed it down and then licensed the brand. So there was the normal SI, then there was a fan blog SI masquerading as SI under the same branding, and then they were doing branding deals for SI trying to make it some kind of lifestyle brand. I’ve seen a couple stores at airports with the SI logo plastered on water bottles and drawstrings and shirts.

Today they announced they’re firing all the writers from normal SI. I believe they’re keeping all the terrible fan blogs and the brand licensing.
 
There were several years where waiting for the weekly delivery was commonplace for myself and so many my age. I don't think I've picked up one for at least 20 years outside of maybe sitting in a waiting room.

My dad kept every one for probably 25 years which are now long gone. I still have 7 saved in plastic - 1980 Miracle and 3 each from the 87 and 91 World Series.

End of an era.
 
On one hand, it does suck to see an institution of American sports culture go away. And people losing jobs is never good.

On the other hand, SI was the bastion of old white guys and what they thought sports were, football, baseball, basketball and occasionally golf and tennis. Hockey was routinely shunned and any soccer coverage was only what Grant Wahl could jam through. Never forget they also shilled for the NFL in the early days by printing NFL photos in color while the AFL got black and white.
 
Jimjamesak said:
On one hand, it does suck to see an institution of American sports culture go away. And people losing jobs is never good.

On the other hand, SI was the bastion of old white guys and what they thought sports were, football, baseball, basketball and occasionally golf and tennis. Hockey was routinely shunned and any soccer coverage was only what Grant Wahl could jam through. Never forget they also shilled for the NFL in the early days by printing NFL photos in color while the AFL got black and white.
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Hey, they put Greg Lemond on the cover and named him sportsman of the year.
 
Jimjamesak said:
On one hand, it does suck to see an institution of American sports culture go away. And people losing jobs is never good.

On the other hand, SI was the bastion of old white guys and what they thought sports were, football, baseball, basketball and occasionally golf and tennis. Hockey was routinely shunned and any soccer coverage was only what Grant Wahl could jam through. Never forget they also shilled for the NFL in the early days by printing NFL photos in color while the AFL got black and white.
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And don’t forget the swimsuit issue!
 
joecct said:
Peter Schickele died on the 16th. You may also know him as P.D.Q. Bach.
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I'd have been off on his birth year by more than 20 years. I had no idea he survived last century.

Such a fun guy. I learned a lot about classical music while laughing my posterior off.
 
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