This episode of the Useless Information Retrocast includes the following:
Cohost: Bruce Carlson of My History Can Beat Up Your Politics
Question of the Day: When was carbon paper invented?
Retrosponsor: Philco Radios
This Retrosponsor commercial is from the January 1, 1947, broadcast of Bing Crosby Philco Radio Time.
Tidbits:
Phonographs Used to Train Birds to Talk (1903)
Survives Niagara Plunge, Dies After Slipping on An Orange Peel (1926)
Battle of the Baths (1949)
Footnotes to History:
Saved As Auto Runs Off Dock (1925)
A Winter Snake Story (1935)
Fire Drill Is Orders—Even If Pupils Shiver (1940)
Catches a Trout with Fly Swatter (1955)
Beatle Locks Get in Swim (1966)
Jan 23 episode mentioned Chicago Public Schools swimming pools. All they wore was a swim cap, boys too. Nude swimming was the order of the time because bathing suit fibers would clog the filters.
That was true of a lot of public schools back then. The YMCA, also. This article was about the public parks in Chicago, which would have been mostly outdoor pools. While the reporter only mentioned the bathing caps, my hunch is that everyone wore bathing suits because the pools were outdoors.